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Updated: May 21, 2026

Adapting Human Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study Methods to Detect and Characterize Dysphagia in Murine Disease Models
Published on: March 1, 2015
Acoustic voice analysis does not identify presence of penetration/aspiration as confirmed by videofluoroscopic
Hui-Ya Chang1, Pao-Chuan Torng, Tyng-Guey Wang
1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Puli Christian Hospital, Nantou, Taiwan.
Objective:
To investigate whether acoustic voice analysis can identify the presence of penetration/aspiration (P/A) as confirmed by videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS).
Design:
Repeated measures within subjects.
Setting:
Rehabilitation department in a tertiary teaching hospital.
Participants:
Patients (N=44) with swallowing disorders referred for VFSS.
Interventions:
Patients were asked to sustain phonations /a/ for at least 3 seconds before and after swallowing 5mL of liquid barium during a standardized VFSS. The acoustic voice analysis program was used to analyze vocal quality change.
Main Outcome Measures:
Five acoustic parameters including average fundamental frequency, relative average perturbation, shimmer percentage, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and voice turbulence index were analyzed for each participant before and after swallowing during VFSS. Differences in the pre- and postmeasures were compared between those participants who demonstrated VFSS-confirmed P/A (n=17) and those who did not (n=27).
Results:
No significant changes were noted in the 5 acoustic parameters in or between P/A and nonpenetration/aspiration groups (P>.05).
Conclusions:
As used in this study, acoustic voice analysis does not identify the presence of P/A confirmed by VFSS.
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