• Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.354-361
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of injection laryngoplasty (IL) with hyaluronic acid in patients with vocal fold paralysis (VFP). Methods: A total of 50 patients with VFP participated in this study. Pre- and post-IL assessments were performed, which included analyzing the sustained vowel /a/ phonation, and the patient reading 1 Korean sentence from the "Walk" passage that comprised 25 syllables in 10 words. To investigate the effect of IL on vocal fold function, acoustic analysis (acoustic voice quality index, cepstral peak prominence, maximum phonation time, speaking fundamental frequency) was conducted and auditory-perceptual (grade and overall severity), visual judgment (gap), and self-questionnaire (voice handicap index-10) assessments were performed. Results: The patients with VFP showed statistically significant differences between pre-and post-IL assessments for acoustic and auditory-perception, visual judgment, and self-questionnaire assessments. Conclusion: The patients with VFP showed positive change in vocal fold function between pre- and post-IL measurements. The findings showed that IL with hyaluronic acid is an effective method to improve vocal fold function in patients with VFP.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.147-154
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• 2018

Wet voice quality (WVQ) is a characteristic that appears after swallowing. Although the concept is accepted by many clinicians worldwide, it is nevertheless ambiguous. In this study, we investigated WVQ in patients with swallowing disorders using acoustic analysis. A total of 106 patients diagnosed with penetration-aspiration by the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) were recruited. A voice recording of vowel /a/ was conducted before and after the VFSS, and an acoustic analysis was then performed using PRAAT. Voice after VFSS was used for a perceptual judgment and divided into two groups: the Wet group (48 patients) and the Non-wet group (58 patients). At the post-VFSS stage, the two groups displayed significant differences in many acoustic parameters including F0_SD, Jitter, RAP, Shimmer, APQ, HNR, NHR, FUF, DVB, and CPP. The parameter affecting judging wetness resulted into Jitter and NHR by the logistic regression test. At the pre-VFSS stage, the two groups differed significantly in many acoustic parameters including Intensity, Jitter, RAP, Shimmer, NHR, FUF, DVB, and CPP. Both pre-and post-VFSS, the mean values of all significant parameters, except Intensity, HNR, and CPP, were higher in the Wet group. According to pre-and post-VFSS, the two groups displayed interactions in many parameters (Intensity, F0_SD, Jitter, RAP, Shimmer, APQ, HNR, NHR, FUF, DVB, and CPP). In particular, Intensity increased in both groups after the VFSS, although the increase in the Non-wet group was greater. Based on these results, it was conjectured that the WVQ after swallowing resulted from the secretion effect of the mucous membrane due to the dry laryngeal characteristic of elderly patients, rather than aspiration resulting in food on the vocal cords.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : Many studies have described and analyzed singer's formant and it has been shown that the epilaryngeal tube in the human airway is responsible for vocal ring, or the singer's formant. A similar phenomenon produced by trained singers in their speech led some authors to examine the speaker's ring. This study was designed to analyze the speaking voice of the singers and speaker's ring. Baterials and Methods : Ten tenors, fifteen baritones, fifteen sopranos and ten mezzo sopranos attending the music college, department of vocal music were chosen for this study. Fifteen male and fifteen female untrained normal speakers were chosen for control group. Each subject was asked to produce a sample of a sustained spoken vowel /ah/ sound for at least five seconds and read sentence 'Kaeul'. The sound data was analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform(FFT) - based power spectrum, Long term average(LTA) power spectrum using the FFT algorithm of the Computerized Speech Lab(CSL, Kay elemetrics, Model 4300B, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences(SPSS). Results : For LTA Power spectrum of/ah/ sound, a significant increase was seen in the 2,500-3,500Hz region(p<0.01) in four trained singer group compared with untrained speaker group, and a significant increase in the 9,000-10,000Hz region(p<0.01) in soparano group. Similarly, in sentence 'Kaeul', there was a significant increase in energy in the tenor, baritone, mezzo soprano group compared with the untrained speaker group in the 2,500-3,500Hz region(p<0.01), and a significant increase in all frequency region(p<0.01) in the soprano group. Conclusions : The LTA power spectrum suggests that trained singers group show more energy concentration in the 'singer's formant' region in the speaking voice, and authors believe this region to be the 'speaker's ring'. Further research is needed on the effect of singing training on the resonance of the speaking voice.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.101-113
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• 2020

This study aimed to explore how effective explicit form-focused instruction (FFI) is in teaching the schwa vowel /ə/ to EFL students in a classroom setting. The participants were 25 female high school students, who were divided into the experimental group (n=13) and the control group (n=12). One female American also participated in the study for a speech sample as a reference. The treatment, which involves shadowing model pronunciation by the researcher and a free text-to-speech software and the researcher's feedback in a private session, was given to the control group over a month and a half. The speech samples, for which the participants read the 14 polysyllabic stimulus words followed by the sentences containing the words, were collected before and after the treatment. The paired-samples t test and non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test were used for analysis. The results showed that the participants of the experimental group in the post-test reduced the duration of the schwa by around 40 percent compared to the pre-test. However, little effect was found in approximating the participants' distribution patterns of /ə/ measured by the F1/F2 formant frequencies to the reference point, which was 539 Hz (F1) by 1797 Hz (F2). The findings of this study suggest that explicit FFI with multiple repetitions and corrective feedback is partly effective in teaching pronunciation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.128-132
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• 2010

Background and Objectives : This study was designed to examine the effect of nasal cavity surgery on voice in terms of nasalance by using subjective test, Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Nasometer and compare the pre op and post op results among patiets with nasal cavity disease. Materials and Method : From April 2009 to November 2009, data of thirty one patients who underwent nasal cavity surgery were prospectively evaluated. 24 males and 7 females with age range between 12 years to 80 years old (average 34 years old) were chosen. VAS was questioned to patients group before, after 1 week, after 1 month, and after 3 months from the surgery. Nasometer, was also conducted. Results: After the surgery symptoms like nasal obstruction, mouth breath, snoring, and sleep apnea were all improved. Improvements for nasal obstruction and mouth breath were observed statistically in post operative day (POD) 1 month and POD 3 months. Also snoring was improved statistically in POD 1 month. Objective nasalance test showed increases in a single and double vowel for POD 3 months. Only /je/ sound statistically-significant increased in all post operative periods. Nasalance increase were observed in other test results. Conclusion : All the symptoms are improved after nasal cavity surgery. Also there are some nasalance changes during whole period of study and return to the pre operative state in POD 3 months. Therefore, patients must be warned and understood about nasalance changes, and surgeons need to aware of various facts, which can affect voice changes before the surgery.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.25
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• pp.775-798
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• 2011

From Post-Modern Edo-language of Japan, it is possible to find expression formats related to current Tokyo language. However, in some cases, Tokyo language and Edo-language has the same format but different usage. One example is the ending portion of a sentence. This research investigates conclusive expressions of Edo-language in literary works excluding the usage of "ダ". Various formats of conclusive expressions appear in a conversation, and the usage is closely related to the speaker's sex, age, and social status. Also from the study, it was possible to see that the social relationship between a speaker and a listener and a conversation circumstance has an effect on the usage of conclusive expressions. In addition, usage does not conform to the current standard Japanese. 1. Currently "である(dearu)" format is seldom used in speaking, it is used with "だ" only in writing. The study found no case of "である(dearu)" in conclusive expressions but some use of "であろうて(dearoute) であらうな(dearouna)" "であったのう(deattanou) であったよ(deattayo)" only in old aged male. 2. "であります(dearimasu)" format is a typical Edo-language used by society-women (Japanese hostess who has a good education and an elegant speaking skills). This format was used once in "浮世風呂"(ukiyoburo) and 14 times in "梅?"(umegoyomi), but speakers were always a female. The reason for 14 occurrences in "梅?" is closely related to the fact that the main characters are society-women and genre is "人情本(ninjoubourn)" which is popular type of cultural literature (based on humanity and romance) in late Edo period. 3. "でござる" format is originally used as a respect-language but later changed to a polite language. The format is always used by male. It is a male language used by old aged people with a genteel manner such as a medical doctor, a retired man, or a funny-song writer. 4. "ございます(gozaimasu) ごぜへます(gozeemasu)" The study found the speaker's social status has a connection with the use of "ごぜへます(gozeemasu)" format. Which is "ございます(gozaimasu)" format but instead of [ai], long vowel [eː] is used. "ごぜへます(gozeemasu)" is more used by a female than a male and only used by young and mid-to-low class people. The format has a tough nuance and less elegant feel, therefore high class and/or educated ladies have a clear tendency to avoiding it

• 재활복지
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.237-255
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• 2014

Idiopathic Parkinson disease(IPD) is an neurodegenerative disease caused by the loss of dopamine cells in the substantia nigra, a region of midbrain. Its major symptoms are muscular rigidity, bradykinesia, resting tremor, and postural instability. An estimated 70~90% of patients with IPD also have hypokinetic dysarthria. Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) has been reported to be successful in relieving the core motor symptoms of IPD in the advanced stages of the disease. However, data on the effects of STN-DBS on speech performance are inconsistent. A medline literature search was done to retrieve articles published from 1987 to 2012. The results were narrowed down to focus on speech performance under STN-DBS based perceptual, acoustic, and/or aerodynamic analyses. Among the 32 publications which dealt with speech performance after STN-DBS indicated improvement(42%), deterioration(29%), mixed results(26%), or no change(3%). The most favorite method was found to be based upon acoustic analysis by using a vowel prolongation and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale(UPDRS). For the purpose of verifying the effect of the STN-DBS, speech evaluation should be undertaken on all speech components such as articulation, resonance, phonation, respiration, and prosody by using a contextual speech task.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 1996.10a
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• pp.246-246
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• 1996

Purpose: Some of the properties of the prosodic phrasing and some acoustic and phonological effects of contrastive focus on the tonal pattern of Seoul Korean is explored based on a brief experiment of analyzing the fundamental frequency(=FO) contour of the speech of the author. Data Base and Analysis Procedures: The examples were chosen to contain mostly nasal and liquid consonants, since it is difficult to track down the formants in stops and fricatives during their corresponding consonantal intervals and stops may yield an effect of unwanted increase in the FO value due to their burst into the following vowel. All examples were recorded three times and the spectrum of the most stable repetition was generated, from which the FO contour of each sentence was obtained, the peaks with a value higher than 250Hz being interpreted as a high tone (=H). The result is then discussed within the prosodic hierarchy framework of Selkirk (1986) and compared with the tonal pattern of the Northern Kyungsang dialect of Korean reported in Kenstowicz & Sohn (1996). Prosodic Phrasing: In N.K. Korean, H never appears both on the object and on the verb in a neutral sentence, which indicates the object and the verb form a single Phonological Phrase ($={\phi}$), given that there is only one pitch peak for each $={\phi}$. However, Seoul Korean shows that both the object and the verb have H of their own, indicating that they are not contained in one $={\phi}$. This violates the Optimality constraint of Wrap-XP (=Enclose a lexical head and its arguments in one $={\phi}$), while N.K. Korean obeys the constraint by grouping a VP in a single $={\phi}$. This asymmetry can be resolved through a constraint that favors the separate grouping of each lexical category and is ranked higher than Wrap-XP in Seoul Korean but vice versa in N.K. Korean; $Align-x^{lex}$ (=Align the left edge of a lexical category with that of a $={\phi}$). (1) nuna-ka manll-ll mEk-nIn-ta ('sister-NOM garlic-ACC eat-PRES-DECL') a. (LLH) (LLH) (HLL) ----Seoul Korean b. (LLH) (LLL LHL) ----N.K. Korean Focus and Phrasing: Two major effects of contrastive focus on phonological phrasing are found in Seoul Korean: (a) the peak of an Intonatioanl Phrase (=IP) falls on the focused element; and (b) focus has the effect of deleting all the following prosodic structures. A focused element always attracts the peak of IP, showing an increase of approximately 30Hz compared with the peak of a non-focused IP. When a subject is focused, no H appears either on the object or on the verb and a focused object is never followed by a verb with H. The post-focus deletion of prosodic boundaries is forced through the interaction of StressFocus (=If F is a focus and DF is its semantic domain, the highest prominence in DF will be within F) and Rightmost-IP (=The peak of an IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$). First Stress-F requires the peak of IP to fall on the focused element. Then to avoid violating Rightmost-IP, all the boundaries after the focused element should delete, minimizing the number of $={\phi}$'s intervening from the right edge of IP. (2) (omitted) Conclusion: In general, there seems to be no direct alignment constraints between the syntactically focused element and the edge of $={\phi}$ determined in phonology; all the alignment effects come from a single requirement that the peak of IP projects from the rightmost $={\phi}$ as proposed in Truckenbrodt (1995).

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.87-101
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• 2022

In addition to administering a questionnaire (J-survey), which questions individuals on subjective vocal fatigue, voice samples were collected before and after speech-language pathology sessions from 50 female speech-language pathologists in their 20s and 30s in the Daejeon and Chungnam areas. We identified significant differences in Korean Vocal Fatigue Index scores between the fatigue and non-fatigue groups, with the most prominent differences in sections one and two. Regarding acoustic phonetic characteristics, both groups showed a pattern in which low-frequency band energy was relatively low, and high-frequency band energy was increased after the treatment sessions. This trend was well reflected in the low-to-high ratio of vowels, slope LTAS, energy in the third formant, and energy in the 4,000-8,000 Hz range. A difference between the groups was observed only in the vowel energy of the low-frequency band (0-4,000 Hz) before treatment, with the non-fatigue group having a higher value than the fatigue group. This characteristic could be interpreted as a result of voice abuse and higher muscle tonus caused by long-term voice work. The perturbation parameter and shimmer local was lowered in the non-fatigue group after treatment, and the noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) was lowered in both groups following treatment. The decrease in NHR and the fall of shimmer local could be attributed to vocal cord hypertension, but it could be concluded that the effective voice use of speech-language pathologists also contributed to this effect, especially in the non-fatigue group. In the case of the non-fatigue group, the rhamonics-to-noise ratio increased significantly after treatment, indicating that the harmonic structure was more stable after treatment.