• Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2007

This study examined the aerodynamic functions (mean airflow rate MFR, subglottal pressure Psub) and closed quotients (CQs) in the fixed pitch (C3, E3, G3, C4) with the variable loudness (70 and 80 dB) as well as in the fixed loudness at 70 dB and 80 dB with the variable pitch (C3, E3, G3, C4) in five classic male singers (Baritone). Results showed that MFR significantly increased at C3, E3, and G3 and Psub significantly increased at C4 when the loudness increased from 70 to 80 dB. At 70 dB, MFR and Psub significantly increased and CQ significantly decreased when the pitch increased from C3 to C4. At 80 dB, MFR significantly decreased when the pitch increased from C3 to G3. However, Psub showed the significant decrease with the pitch increased at 80 dB. In conclusion, as the loudness increases, the aerodynamic loss is getting higher and vocal efficiency becomes lower at low pitch than at higher pitch. At a low loudness level, the main mechanism to control loudness is the amount of medial compression of the vocal folds rather than the aerodynamic function. In addition, the aerodynamic function and medial compression of the vocal folds have a significant role in increasing the loudness level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2004

Vocal Register Transition(Passaggio) is one of the most important vocal technique for classically trined male singers(tenor). Passaggio is that it bridges the chest register to head register without a noticeable voice break. Vocalist gest the feeling that voice is not locked a particular register. The purpose of this study was to clarify the difference between easy($B_3$) tone and non passaggio(F#_4$) & passaggio(F#_4$). We selected 6 trained singers(tenor), who had more than 12.6 years of experience and were well trained in passaggio technique. Simulataneous measurement was performed frequency(F0), mean flow rate(MFR), intensity(I), and subglottal pressure(Psub) using a phonatory function analyzer(Nagashima) and Closed Quotient(CQ), Jitter, Shimmer, NHR a Electro-glottography(EGG) of Lx. Speech Studio(Laryngogrph Lt, London, UK) and vocal efficiency was calculated by Carroll's method. For the tenor, target tone/a/was measured in three conditions : 1) easy phonation : $B_3$, 2) high tone without passaggio : F#_4$, 3) high tone with passaggio : F#_4$). The results revealed that F0 of the target tones between non-passaggio group and passaggio group were not significantly different though higher is F0, higher is subglottal pressure. And also CQ, MFR, Psub were increased in passagio than nonpssagio but these values were not statistically different. This study concluded that passaggio is the vocal technique to make the same quality of tone between chest register and head register in tenor.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.125-131
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• 2012

The patients with incomplete glottic closure have an important feature decreasing the maximum phonation time (MPT) because airflow rate or air leakage is greater than people without voice disorders. Also they can appear a problem in the intensity regulation. This study analyzed MPT difference based on the comfortable intensity and louder intensity and the correlation between MPT and respiration volume of unilateral vocal fold palsy (UVFP) and sulcus vocalis (SV) group. The twenty with UVFP, the 21 with SV, the 21 normal subjects measured MPT in /a/ vowel prolongation task with comfortable intensity and louder intensity and compared analysis by measuring FVC, $FEV_1$, $FEV_1/FVC$ to analyze the correlation between MPT and respiration volume. First, a comparison of MPT according to the intensity between groups is that MPT of the normal group was statistically significant long compared to the patient group in comfortable intensity, but MPT between groups was not statistically significant difference in the louder intensity. Second, an analysis of the correlation between MPT and respiration volume is that this was statistically significant correlation between MPT in comfortable intensity and MPT in louder intensity. But this did not show statistically significant correlation between intensity and respiration volume. This study can be supported the preceding study results deduced that shorting MPT of the patient group compared to the normal group was originated in the problem of laryngeal valving mechanism at the level of vocal folds rather than a problem of respiratory function. Also at the phonation by varying the intensity, the result can deduce that in the case of patient group, the length of MPT had been improved by increasing the glottal closure ratio in the louder intensity. These results can support the theoretical basis that should be applied to the clinicians by varying the intensity at the voice evaluation and voice therapy for the patients with the glottis incompetence.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.112-117
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• 2017

Background and Objectives : The purpose of this study was to classify patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis according to their fixed location and to analysis the effects of two treatment methods by early voice therapy and injection laryngoplasty. Materials and Methods : Twenty patients who were classified as full abduction and slight abduction according to the position of paralysis were treated injection laryngoplasy, and 23 patients were treated by voice therapy. Twenty patients were treated injection laryngoplasy and 23 patients were treated voice therapy. Results were evaluated by acoustic analysis, electroglottography, cepstrum analysis before and after therapy. The voice therapy was conducted by improving the larynx movement and glottal contact, whilst removing hypertension of the supraglottic and use the breathing. Results : Significant improvement was found in the acoustic parameter, cepstrum parameter, and EGG before and after treatment in both groups. There was no significant difference between the two groups when compared before and after treatment to compare the effects of injection laryngoplasty and voice therapy. Conclusion : The initial treatments for unilateral vocal cord paralysis are injection laryngoplasty and voice therapy. however, there is no precise standard about which method should be applied first. Therefore, in this study, we tried to classify patients according to their paralysis position and then apply two methods. The results of this study suggest that voice therapy and Injection laryngoplasty at the initial stage is a very useful method to improve voice quality of vocal fold paralysis and improve laryngeal function.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 2011

Electroglottography (EGG) is a common method for providing non-invasive measurements of glottal activity. EGG has been used in vocal pathology as a clinical or research tool to measure vocal fold contact. This paper presents the results of pitch, jitter, and closed quotient (CQ) measurements in electroglottographic signals of young (mean = 22.7 years) and elderly (mean = 74.3 years) male and female subjects. The sustained corner vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/ were measured at around 70 dB SPL since the most notable among EGG variables is the phonation intensity, which showed positive correlation with closed phase. The aim of this paper was to measure EGG data according to age and gender. In CQ, there was a significant difference between young and elderly female subjects while there was no significant difference between young and elderly male subjects. The mean value for young males was higher than that for elderly males while the mean value for young females was lower than that for elderly females. Thus, it can be said that in mean values, increased CQ was related to decreased age for females, while CQ decreased for males as the speaker's age decreased. Although the laryngeal degeneration due to increased age seems to occur to a lesser extent in females, the significant increase of CQ in elderly female voices could not be explained in terms of age-related physiological changes. In standard deviation of pitch and jitter, the mean values for young and elderly males were higher than that for young and elderly females. That is, male subjects showed higher in mean values of voice variables than female subjects. This result could be considered as a sign of vocal instability in males. It was suggested that these results may provide powerful insights into the control and regulation of normal phonation and into the detection and characterization of pathology.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.183-191
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• 2015

This study evaluated the effect of the therapeutic methods between vocal function exercise(VFE), which has been used for the patients with presbyphonia in the precedent studies and laryngeal calibration technique($SKLCT^{(R)}$), which is designed by the author. We identified 58 patients who was been diagnosed as presbylaryngis by laryngoscopic examinations. 21 patients were underwent voice therapy using $SKLCT^{(R)}$, 20 patients were taken VFE, and the control group of 17 patients were not taken any voice therapy. All subjects received the therapy, ranging from seven to nine sessions, and were evaluated the voice change on pretherapy and posttherapy. The grade of hoarseness, roughness, and breathiness voice were reduced on perceptual judgments after $SKLCT^{(R)}$, but only grade of hoarseness was reduced after the VFE. Jitter, Shimmer, NHR were reduced and MPT were increased after the $SKLCT^{(R)}$(p<.05), while Jitter and SFF were reduced after the VFE. Frequency and intensity range were increased significantly on the posttest performance after taking voice therapy by the $SKLCT^{(R)}$, on the other hand only intensity range was increased after VFE. Especially, we can find the significant change that glottic gap and supraglottic compressions was reduced in most of patients after the $SKLCT^{(R)}$, but there's no changes in the group of VFE and control group. In the study, we can suggest that the $SKLCT^{(R)}$ may be useful in improving the voice qualities and laryngeal function of presbyphonia.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.583-585
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• 1994

In this study, we have evaluated the effect of amplitude and frequency perturbation of EGG signal during single vowels associated with laryngeal pathology. The normal EGG signal is properly characterized by an autoregressive model which has the optimal order of ninth using the parametric method. This can be analyzed by determining the transfer function. Perturbations in the fundamental pitch and in the peak amplitude of EGG signal derived with a four-electrode system using the modulation/demodulation techniques were investigated for the purpose of developing a decision criteria for the laryngeal function identification.

• Journal of Korean Medical Ki-Gong Academy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.10-29
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• 2024

Objective : The purpose of this study is to determine whether An's breathing meditation qigong therapy (ABMQT) delivers bioenergy to the frontal lobe, prefrontal lobe, the olfactory tract in the mesolimbic pathway, olfactory bulb, CV22, CV21, olfactory area and vocal-related areas in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients to help improve olfactory disorders (anosmia) and vocal functions. Methods : The subjects of this study were 4 patients with idiopathic PD (3 males/1 female, 65.0±NA/68.7±10.2 years old). ABMQT was applied once a week, 120 minutes per session for 12 weeks in a non-invasive and noncontact manner, and the test before and after ABMQT application included olfactory impairment test the Korean version of Sniffin' stick test (KVSS), voice acoustic test, aerodynamic test, vocal handicap index (VHI-30), and auditory perception scale test tools. The results before and after the experiment were analyzed assuming a normal distribution, and a chi-square test was performed using a continuity correction, and the significance level was set to p<0.05. And the medical diagnosis and findings of the examiner (doctor in charge) before and after the experiment were described. Results : KVSS was significant as 0.2±0.5 and 9.0±0.0 before and after the experiment. There was no significant difference between the voice acoustic test FO and Jitter, the vocal aerodynamic test MPT, SP, AE, the vocal disorder index test, and the auditory perception test. However, the medical diagnosis findings of four study subjects showed that olfactory disorders, voice disorders, and laryngeal function were improved before and after the application of ABMQT. Conclusions : The breathing meditation qigong program showed significant effects on improving the olfactory disorders (anosmia) and speech function of each study subject. However, to produce meaningful results, it is thought that experiments involving a larger number of research participants are necessary, and additional blood and FMRI tests are conducted to verify metabolic activities and the olfactory neuron signal transmission system.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.343-349
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• 2004

Electroglottograph(EGG) is a signal recorded from the vocal cord vibration by measuring electrical impedance across the vocal folds through the neck skin. The purpose of this study was to develop EGG system and to evaluate possibility for the application on speech analysis and laryngeal disease diagnosis. EGG system was composed of two pairs of ring electrodes, tuned amplifier, phase sensitive detector, low pass filter, and auto-gain controller. It was designed to extract electric impedance after detecting by amplitude modulation method with 2.7MHz carrier signal. Extracted signals were transmitted through line-in of PC sound card, sampled and quantized. Closed Quotient(CQ), Speed Quotient(SQ), Speed Index(SI), fundamental frequency of vocal cord vibration(F0), pitch variability of vocal fold vibration (Jitter), and peak-to-peak amplitude variability of vocal fold vibration(Shimmer) were analyzed as EGG parameters. Experimental results were as follows: the faster vocal fold vibration, the higher values in CQ parameter and the lower values in SQ and SI parameters. EGG and speech signals had the same fundamental frequency. CQ, SQ, and SI were significantly different between normal subjects and patients with laryngeal cancer. These results suggest that it is possible to implement portable EGG system to monitor the function of vocal cord and to test functional changes of the glottis.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.133-140
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to investigate any changes in acoustic qualities of voice as ,a function of nasalance, in order to determine the relationship between vocal quality and nasalance. Twenty normal subjects (10 males and 10 females) vocalized /a/, /$\tilde{a}$/, and /a $\eta$/. The changes in nasalance and acoustic characteristics of the voice were analyzed by Nasometer (Model 6200-3, Kay Elemetrics, co) and Dr, Speech 4.0 (Tiger Electronics, Co), respectively. One-way ANOVA was used to examine any changes in jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio, and normalized noise energy relative to the nasalance in 3 types of vocalization. The Person r correlation coefficient was used to identify the relationship between the nasalance and the vocal quality. There was no statistically significant changes in jitter, shimmer, HNR and NNE. The jitter, however, tended to increase as the nasalance socre increased, compared to the other vocal parameters. In addition, the NNE showed an increase on / $\tilde{a}$/, and /a $\eta$/, more on the /a $\eta$/. Thus, it was speculated that NNE could be used to identify or screen resonant disorders with hypernasality