Interdependencies between acoustic and high-speed videoendoscopy parameters

PLoS One. 2021 Feb 2;16(2):e0246136. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246136. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

In voice research, uncovering relations between the oscillating vocal folds, being the sound source of phonation, and the resulting perceived acoustic signal are of great interest. This is especially the case in the context of voice disorders, such as functional dysphonia (FD). We investigated 250 high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) recordings with simultaneously recorded acoustic signals (124 healthy females, 60 FD females, 44 healthy males, 22 FD males). 35 glottal area waveform (GAW) parameters and 14 acoustic parameters were calculated for each recording. Linear and non-linear relations between GAW and acoustic parameters were investigated using Pearson correlation coefficients (PCC) and distance correlation coefficients (DCC). Further, norm values for parameters obtained from 250 ms long sustained phonation data (vowel /i/) were provided. 26 PCCs in females (5.3%) and 8 in males (1.6%) were found to be statistically significant (|corr.| ≥ 0.3). Only minor differences were found between PCCs and DCCs, indicating presence of weak non-linear dependencies between parameters. Fundamental frequency was involved in the majority of all relevant PCCs between GAW and acoustic parameters (19 in females and 7 in males). The most distinct difference between correlations in females and males was found for the parameter Period Variability Index. The study shows only weak relations between investigated acoustic and GAW-parameters. This indicates that the reduction of the complex 3D glottal dynamics to the 1D-GAW may erase laryngeal dynamic characteristics that are reflected within the acoustic signal. Hence, other GAW parameters, 2D-, 3D-laryngeal dynamics and vocal tract parameters should be further investigated towards potential correlations to the acoustic signal.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustics
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Dysphonia / physiopathology*
  • Female
  • Glottis / physiopathology*
  • Humans
  • Laryngoscopy / instrumentation
  • Laryngoscopy / methods*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Video Recording
  • Voice Quality
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

M.D. received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under grants BO 4399/2-1 and DO 1247/8-1/2 and A.S. under grant SCHU 3441/3-2 (all combined under no. 323308998). The project description can be found online at http://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/323308998. A.M.K. was supported by a Joachim-Herz-Stiftung Add-on fellowship. The description of the funding can be found online at: http://portugueslab.com/andreas-kist-received-a-fellowship-from-the-joachim-herz-foundation.html. The authors acknowledge support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) within the funding programme Open Access Publishing. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.