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Purpose: Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVFP) is a severe disorder that can result in respiratory, swallowing, and voice-related problems. Most surgical treatments do not restore laryngeal function and often need to compromise voice quality to preserve respiratory function. Laryngeal reinnervation (LR) may offer a solution to this problem, but literature on longitudinal outcomes of this procedure is scarce. This study aims to report the longitudinal vocal outcomes of BVFP after LR and subsequent voice therapy. Method: The case of a 23-year-old man with BVFP after a traumatic dissection of both recurrent laryngeal nerves is described. Selective bilateral LR of both adductors and abductors was performed 5 months after the onset of BVFP. Voice therapy was provided after the LR procedure. Multidimensional voice assessments, including acoustic, perceptual, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), were conducted 2, 5, 6.5, 8, and 31 months after LR. Results: An improvement of vocal capabilities and voice quality was noticed 6.5 months after LR, after 4.5 months of voice therapy, with normative values after 2.5 years. PROMs showed an improvement of voice-related quality of life, but some limitations to activities of daily living were still present. Inspiratory arytenoid abduction was not observed on laryngeal videostroboscopic findings in this patient, but tracheostomy was not required. Conclusions: Voice therapy after LR helps establish healthy and efficient voice use without increasing compensatory hyperfunctional behavior. More research is needed to examine potential merits of voice therapy in the rehabilitation of vocal and respiratory functions after LR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Fast pitch detection algorithm for the real-time estimation of the fundamental frequency, optimized for hardware implementation. This paper presents a novel, high-speed, and low-complexity algorithm for pitch (F0) detection, along with a new dataset for testing and a comparison of some of the most effective existing techniques. The algorithm, called OneBitPitch (OBP), is based on a modified autocorrelation function applied to a single-bit signal for fast computation. The focus is explicitly on speed for real-time pitch detection applications in pitch detection. A testing procedure is proposed using a proprietary synthetic dataset (SYNTHPITCH) against three of the most widely used algorithms: YIN, SWIPE (Sawtooth Inspired Pitch Estimator) and NLS (Nonlinear-Least Squares-based). The results show how OBP is 9 times faster than the fastest of its alternatives, and 50 times faster than a gold standard like SWIPE, with a mean elapsed time of 4.6 ms, or 0.046 × realtime. OBP is slightly less accurate for high-precision landmarks and noisy signals, but its performance in terms of acceptable error (<2%) is comparable to YIN and SWIPE. NLS emerges as the most accurate, but it is not flexible, being dependent on the input and requiring prior setup. OBP shows to be robust to octave errors while providing acceptable accuracies at ultra-high speeds, with a building nature suited for FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did military authorities deal with the Great Symphony Orchestra of Belgian Radio in occupied Belgium during WWII? Were listeners forced to endure tons of music by Wagner, or were only scores by Jewish and modernist composers blacklisted ? Was the orchestra still allowed to play French impressionistic music, formally forbidden in Nazi-Germany, present contemporary music, and premiere new compositions as it had before 1940? Did the Propaganda-Abteilung Belgien instrumentalise the orchestra to promote the German Kulturerbe and the National-Socialist Weltanschauung ? What about Flemish music, which some claimed was neglected before WWII? How did the Propaganda-Abteilung Belgien (PAB) deal with both of these artistic directions within the setting of a radio institution which had only one orchestra at its disposal and what was their degree of autonomy ? Using a detailed analysis of the repertoire played by the Great Symphony Orchestra of Belgian Radio during WWII, the present paper assesses how the Propaganda-Abteilung misused that orchestra for its own sake, while demonstrating a remarkable differentiation when approaching the Francophone and Flemish community [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the history of state Jewish theaters in Ukraine in the period 20-30s of the twentieth century. Important, previously unknown facts of organizational and creative processes of Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Odesa GOSETs are highlighted. This article describes the stages of the Soviet policy of indigenization and its influence on the development of Jewish theaters in Ukraine. The publication clearly describes the ways of each of the state Jewish theaters of Soviet Ukraine from their creation to the beginning of the Second World War, when all Jewish theaters were evacuated from Ukraine. Based on the analysis repertoire and changes in the administrative and creative management of theaters, the influence of the Soviet totalitarian regime on the theatrical art of one of the largest national minorities in Ukraine is highlighted. The first reference is made to archival documents that regulated the repertoire of Jewish theaters at the state level. The article examines the influence of the Soviet government on staff changes in the management of GOSETs in Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa. The author concludes the article by encouraging the study of national minority theaters for a more detailed understanding of domestic theatrical processes of the first half of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the songs circulated in the first Christian woman's magazine in China, Nü duo (1912–1951). Its first editor, American missionary Laura M. White (1867–1937), played a crucial role in creating a wide range of music for Chinese girls through journalism. White used print media to circulate songs that were viewed as an integral part of the spiritual life of ideal womanhood. Unlike the hymnody confined to congregational worship, the music circulated through Nü duo aimed to promote a vocalised expression of Christian faith in everyday life. This spiritual life was interwoven with secular concerns about the nation, social issues and home life. An exploration of music literature published in Nü duo shows how Western music was translated into local language that aimed to reach female Christians in mission schools and at home. It provided an alternative to the dominant indigenous development of Protestant hymnody in the Republican era. It went beyond the foreign and local dichotomy with a concept of universal modern citizenship. Furthermore, it added a gendered perspective to Christian sacred music that was linked to the creation of a sense of a female fellowship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]