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Objective: Currently, no clinically feasible objective measures exist that are specific to the signs of adductor laryngeal dystonia (LD), deterring effective diagnosis and treatment. This project sought to establish concurrent validity of a new automated acoustic outcome measure, designed to be specific to adductor laryngeal dystonia (AdLD): the spectral aggregate of the high-passed fundamental frequency contour (SAH[f.sub.o]). Method: Twenty speakers with AdLD read voiced phoneme-loaded (more symptomatic) and voiceless phoneme-loaded (less symptomatic) sentences. LD discontinuities (defined as phonatory breaks, frequency shifts, and creak), the acoustic ramifications of laryngeal spasms, were manually identified. The frequency content of the [f.sub.o] contour was examined as a function of time, and content above 1000 Hz was summed to automatically calculate SAH[f.sub.o]. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to SAH[f.sub.o] based on LD discontinuities and sentence type (voiced or voiceless phoneme-loaded). Results: The regression model accounted for 41.1% of the variance in SAH[f.sub.o]. Both the LD discontinuities and sentence type were statistically related to SAH[f.sub.o]. Conclusion: Results of this study provide evidence of concurrent validity. SAH[f.sub.o] is an automatic outcome measure specific to acoustic signs of AdLD that may be useful to track treatment progress., Laryngeal dystonia (LD), also known as spasmodic dysphonia, is a neurological focal dystonia of the laryngeal musculature (Blitzer et al., 2018). There are two main types of LD, differentiated by [...]

Purpose: Our audio-vocal system involves a negative feedback system that functions to correct for fundamental frequency ([f.sub.0]) errors in production. Therefore, automatic and opposing responses appear when an unexpected change in voice pitch is present in auditory feedback. This study explores following responses to pitch perturbation in auditory feedback in tonal language speakers, which have been commonly overlooked or discarded by past research. We examine whether the number of response types (opposing vs. following) and their dynamic [f.sub.0] contours in tone word production vary as a function of instruction (involuntary ['to ignore'] vs. volitional ['to compensate']). Method: Twenty-four native speakers of Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) produced three disyllabic TSM words while receiving pitch perturbation through headphones. The three disyllabic words were [tsau.sup.55]-[im.sup.55] ('out of tune'; HH), [kau.sup.33]-[uann.sup.33] ('exchange'; Mm), and [pan.sup.11]-[an.sup.11] ('handle a case'; LL) that carry an identical high-, mid-, or low-level tone. The participants were instructed either 'to ignore' or 'to compensate' for the pitch shifts. Results: Results from a Bayesian Poisson regression show that the number of opposing and following responses were split nearly 50-50 for the 'ignore' condition and 55%-35% for the 'compensate' condition. The simulation results indicate that the speakers were able to switch between the feedback and the feedforward mode during the testing. On the other hand, [f.sub.0] contour analyses using generalized additive models show that pitch-increasing responses (i.e., oppose to downshifts or follow upshifts) were significantly larger than pitch-decreasing responses (i.e., oppose to upshifts or follow downshifts) for the MM and LL words, but not for the HH word. Conclusions: Our results provide support for the view that, for tone speakers, following responses are not uncommon. The magnitudes of pitch shift response trajectories have to do with the available pitch range for moving up or down in tone word production., Auditory feedback plays an important role in speech motor control. The pitch shift paradigm, where an artificial change in pitch (either upward or downward) is played back to speakers during [...]

How can one read song? Reading is silent, introspective, singular; singing is audible, performative, plural. In his folksong collections, Johann Gottfried Herder acknowledges this dualism and favors song. Yet he [...]

Although voicing is produced by a stream of air delivered by the lungs and trachea and inducing vibrations of the vocal folds, it is influenced by various parallel and interconnected [...], Purpose: Women with Reinke's edema (RW) report being mistaken for men during telephone conversations. For this reason, their masculine-sounding voices are interesting for the study of gender stereotypes. The study's objective is to verify their complaint and to understand the cues used in gender identification. Method: Using a self-evaluation study, we verified RW's perception of their own voices. We compared the acoustic parameters of vowels produced by 10 RW to those produced by 10 men and 10 women with healthy voices (hereafter referred to as NW) in Lebanese Arabic. We conducted a perception study for the evaluation of RW, healthy men's, and NW voices by naive listeners. Results: RW self-evaluated their voices as masculine and their gender identities as feminine. The acoustic parameters that distinguish RW from NW voices concern fundamental frequency, spectral slope, harmonicity of the voicing signal, and complexity of the spectral envelope. Naive listeners very often rate RW as surely masculine. Conclusions: Listeners may rate RW's gender incorrectly. These incorrect gender ratings are correlated with acoustic measures of fundamental frequency and voice quality. Further investigations will reveal the contribution of each of these parameters to gender perception and guide the treatment plan of patients complaining of a gender ambiguous voice.

My Lover is (in) my Computer For director Spike Jonze and many of his critics, the authentic, genuine, and believable quality of the love story in Her (2013) constitutes the [...]

I am convinced that the best antidote to meta-physics is singing. Adriana Cavarero with Elisabetta Bertolino, 'Beyond Ontology and Sexual Difference: An Interview with the Italian Feminist Philosopher Adriana Cavarero' [...]

The challenges inherent to theorizing vocal performance is presented. The performing voice contains within its fluctuations and nuances, the character who emerges from the actor's engagement with the text so that voice is the site of actor's identity. Actor training could be enhanced by the addition of theoretical understanding of nature of the voice in performances.

This essay is a consideration of Hegel's account of the voice. Responding, in the first instance, to Derrida's discussion of what he terms Hegel's 'semiology,' the article attempts to map out complexities in Hegel's account of voice that tend to resist absorption into the trajectory that Derrida has outlined. Hegel's discussion of music in the Aesthetics will be the focus, and an attempt is made to link the emergence of the musical voice to the fundamental determinations of time and of sound in the Philosophy of Nature. Finally, the essay will connect Hegel's understanding of music with the primordial appearance of voice in the anthropology of the Philosophy of Spirit. Keywords Hegel, Derrida, music, voice, time DOI: 10.1163/008555509X12472022364082

Marcel Beyer's novel The Karnau Tapes begins with a voice breaking the morning silence and a parade of deaf-mutes at a Nazi rally. The narrative perspective is that of Hermann [...]

Purpose: Many researchers have studied the acoustics, physiology, and perceptual characteristics of the voice source, but despite significant attention, it remains unclear which aspects of the source should be quantified and how measurements should be made. In this study, the authors examined the relationships among a number of existing measures of the glottal source spectrum, along with the association of these measures to overall spectral shapes and to glottal pulse shapes, to determine which measures of the source best capture information about the shapes of glottal pulses and glottal source spectra. Method: Seventy-eight different measures of source spectral shapes were made on the voices of 70 speakers. Principal components analysis was applied to measurement data, and the resulting factors were compared with factors similarly derived from oral speech spectra and glottal pulses. Results: Results revealed high levels of duplication and overlap among existing measures of source spectral slope. Further, existing measures were not well aligned with patterns of spectral variability. In particular, existing spectral measures do not appear to model the higher frequency parts of the source spectrum adequately. Conclusion: The failure of existing measures to adequately quantify spectral variability may explain why results of studies examining the perceptual importance of spectral slope have not produced consistent results. Because variability in the speech signal is often perceptually salient, these results suggest that most existing measures of source spectral slope are unlikely to be good predictors of voice quality. KEY WORDS: voice quality, acoustic measures, source spectrum, The voice source holds a central place in descriptions of speech production. Many investigators with a variety of research goals have studied the acoustics, physiology, and perceptual characteristics of the [...]

Tracheoesophageal (TE) speakers often have difficulty producing the voiced/ voiceless distinction. This limitation has been attributed to use of the pharyngoesophageal segment as the phonatory source. The nature of this tissue may preclude precise control of voicing onset, a contributing cue to a phoneme's voicing feature, at least in laryngeal speech. The purpose of this study was to determine whether voiced and voiceless consonants produced by TE speakers could be differentiated from those produced by laryngeal speakers using four acoustic measures associated with the voicing characteristic of consonants in laryngeal speech. Sixteen TE and ten laryngeal speakers produced five stop and fricative cognate pairs embedded in a carrier phrase. Three of the four acoustic measures contributed significantly to the discriminant models that differentiated accurately perceived TE and laryngeal samples. The three variables were consonant sound pressure level, consonant duration, and preceding vowel duration. In general, values for each measure were higher/longer for the TE group. The discriminant functions were interpreted as a reflection of TE speaker attempts at overarticulation. KEY WORDS: tracheoesophageal speech, voicing feature, acoustic analysis, Total laryngectomy is the treatment of choice for some laryngeal cancers. This procedure alters speech production because of removal of the larynx and rerouting of respiration through a stoma at [...]

Stevens (1991) has suggested that, while speakers control glottal apertures in producing consonants, the buildup of intraoral pressure during an oral closure creates decreases in transglottal flow, which can, in itself, reduce or halt vocal fold vibrations. The object of this study was to determine whether speakers can take advantage of such pressure effects in controlling the voicing attributes of intervocalic stops. Intraoral pressure, vocal fold vibration (Lx portions of electroglottograms), and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the orbicularis oris inferior were monitored for 6 subjects while they produced at "slow," "normal," and "fast" speaking rates utterances containing intervocalic stops /p/ and /b/. Product-moment correlations between the intervocalic pressure rises and the amplitude contour of Lx showed strong negative relationships at normal-to-fast rates of speech. However, this relationship was not maintained at slower rates, where decreases in the amplitude of Lx sometimes occurred before the onset of EMG activity in the labial adductor. The findings suggest that, at normal-to-fast rates of speech, speakers can use the passive effects of pressure in controlling vocal fold vibration for stop consonants. KEY WORDS: speech rate, phonation, speech aerodynamics, speech motor control, articulation, Abnormalities in the control of voicing have been reported for a number of speech pathologies including verbal apraxia (e.g., Itoh et al., 1982), certain dysarthrias (Kent, Netsell, & Abbs, 1979; [...]

The effect of voice in homogenous and heterogeneous groups is analyzed. It is observed that the policy decisions emanating from homogenous group duly take into account the information provided by the individuals seated farthest from the group leader and thus such an individual has a reason to make his point. But in heterogeneous group, the possibility of information exchange is highly restricted and in fact the policies may be pushed to the other extreme on individual's attempt to share information.

Dysphonic voices are often analyzed using automated voice analysis software. However, the reliability of acoustic measures obtained from these programs remains unknown, particularly when they are applied to pathological voices. This study compared perturbation measures from CSpeech, Computerized Speech Laboratory, SoundScope, and a hand marking voice analysis system. Sustained vowels from 29 male and 21 female speakers with mild to severe dysphonia were digitized, and fundamental frequency ([F.sub.0]), jitter, shimmer, and harmonics- or signal-to-noise ratios were computed. Commercially available acoustical analysis programs agreed well, but not perfectly, in their measures of [F.sub.0]. Measures of perturbation in the various analysis packages use different algorithms, provide results in different units, and often yield values for voices that violate the assumption of quasi-periodicity. As a result, poor rank order correlations between programs using similar measures of perturbation were noted. Because measures of aperiodicity apparently cannot be reliably applied to voices that are even mildly aperiodic, we question their utility in quantifying vocal quality, especially in pathological voices. KEY WORDS: perturbation, jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio, acoustic analysis

I have just got through going over the book Cogewea, and am surprised at the changes that you made .... I felt like it was someone elses book and not [...]

The relationship between voice, authorship and meaning of 'I'll Be Seeing You', a song recorded in 1944 by both Billie Holiday and Bing Crosby, is discussed. These two recordings were different and were received in very different ways. Recordings of singer's voices can be considered to be a kind of electro-acoustic mirror that reflect those human qualities which are otherwise difficult to find.

Voice is a sound produced by muscular movement, breath in the chest, throat and mouth. Voice is also a reflection of a body's innermost feelings. One way of putting strong emotional feelings into voice is singing. Voices are heard as male or female and understood according to listener's likings. Voice is an important way to recognize people, assess and react to them. It is a key to the ways in which people change their identities.

A new method to analyze voice range profiles (phonetograms) is described. The structured analysis is based on quantitatively determining the features: shape, area, and 'speaking range' dynamics, without distorting the shape of phonetograms. The parameter sets describing these features are calculated independently of fundamental frequency, which makes it possible to compare phonetograms. Two phonetograms representing a normal and a pathological example are used to illustrate the proposed method. The process provides a tool for establishing normative data for specified groups. KEY WORDS: voice, phonetogram, shape, analysis, normative data

Several authors have recently demonstrated the intimate relationship between nonlinear dynamics and observations in vocal fold vibration (Herzel, 1993; Mende, Herzel, & Wermke, 1990; Titze, Baken, & Herzel, 1993). The aim of this paper is to analyze vocal disorders from a nonlinear dynamics point of view. Basic concepts and analysis techniques from nonlinear dynamics are reviewed and related to voice. The voices of several patients with vocal disorders are analyzed using traditional voice analysis techniques and methods from nonlinear dynamics. The two methods are shown to complement each other in many ways. Likely physiological mechanisms of the observed nonlinear phenomena are presented, and it is shown how much of the terminology in the literature describing rough voice can be unified within the framework of nonlinear dynamics. KEY WORDS: vocal disorders, nonlinear dynamics, voice analysis, bifurcations

This study describes a perception experiment in which listeners were asked to rate voice fragments obtained from a variety of speakers on grade, breathiness, and roughness. Four different types of stimuli were presented to each listener. One type of stimulus was based on connected speech fragments; the other three were based on different segments of a sustained vowel, yielding a 200 msec vowel onset stimulus, a 200 msec post-onset stimulus, and a 1000 msec whole vowel stimulus. Analyses focused on the consistency and reliability of grade, roughness, and breathiness ratings. Results indicated that stimulus type had virtually no effect on either within- or between-listener consistency of the grade, breathiness, or roughness ratings. Rating reliability too was hardly influenced by stimulus type. When determined as a function of the overall degree of deviance of a voice, the reliability of breathiness and roughness ratings was slightly higher for whole vowel and vowel onset stimuli than for connected speech and post-onset stimuli. It is concluded that connected speech stimuli are not necessarily to be preferred over vowel-type stimuli for a perceptual evaluation of grade, roughness, or breathiness. The somewhat higher reliability of ratings on vowel onset and whole vowel stimuli as compared to the post-onset stimuli is taken as an indication that the onset part of a vowel may contain voice quality cues that are less salient in the most stable part of a vowel. KEY WORDS: voice quality, perceptual evaluation, consistency, reliability, types of speech fragments

Critics have pointed out that in spite of the apparent 'directness' of the monologues, some characters/narrators in As I Lay Dying use a level of language absolutely incompatible with their [...]

A homomorphic processing, software implemented method for measuring secondary amplitude modulation (AM) is described. The accuracy of measurement of this method was tested on a series of synthetically produced AM and vowel signals. The homomorphic method provided highly accurate measurement of modulation frequency and modulation index.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of several acoustic measures in predicting breathiness ratings. Recordings were made of eight normal men and seven normal women producing normally phonated, moderately breathy, and very breathy sustained vowels. Twenty listeners rated the degree of breathiness using a direct magnitude estimation procedure. Acoustic measures were made of: (a) signal periodicity, (b) first harmonic amplitude, and (c) spectral tilt. Periodicity measures provided the most accurate predictions of perceived breathiness, accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in breathiness ratings. The relative amplitude of the first harmonic correlated moderately with breathiness ratings, and two measures of spectral tilt correlated weakly with perceived breathiness.

The purpose of this study was to compare jitter and shimmer data measured with three different analysis systems, the Visi-Pitch PC system (Pine Brook) and two systems based on minicomputers (Chicago and Denver), as a preliminary step toward establishing recording and analysis standards. The results show that, although similar hardware and software used at independent laboratories can yield similar findings, differences in recording hardware as well as recording and analysis procedures can result in important differences in perturbation findings. Jitter measurements obtained with the Visi-Pitch were not consistently in good agreement with jitter measurements obtained from the minicomputer systems due, in part, to an interaction between the Visi-Pitch internal filter selected during the recording process and the novel method of pitch period determination used in the Visi-Pitch. Magnitude of shimmer measurements differed between the two minicomputer systems, in part because of differences in amplitude resolution of the A/D converters and recording noise. The correlation between the two shimmer data sets was relatively high, however, indicating that relative changes across utterances were comparable in spite of magnitude differences. KEY WORDS: voice, perturbation, jitter, shimmer, Visi-Pitch

How Hillary Clinton responded to the opposing demands of projecting a presidential image without challenging gender norms is analyzed. This is done in the context of comparing her linguistic choices before she claim to have found her own voice in the 2008 presidential campaign primary held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.