Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 13, 2026

fMRI Mapping of Brain Activity Associated with the Vocal Production of Consonant and Dissonant Intervals
Published on: May 23, 2017
Voice Onset Time for the Word-Initial Voiceless Consonant /t/ in Japanese Spasmodic Dysphonia-A Comparison With
Saori Yanagida1, Noriko Nishizawa1, Kenji Mizoguchi2
1Department of Communication Disorders, School of Psychological Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan; Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
Objectives:
Voice onset time (VOT) for word-initial voiceless consonants in adductor spasmodic dysphonia (ADSD) and abductor spasmodic dysphonia (ABSD) patients were measured to determine (1) which acoustic measures differed from the controls and (2) whether acoustic measures were related to the pause or silence between the test word and the preceding word.
Methods:
Forty-eight patients with ADSD and nine patients with ABSD, as well as 20 matched normal controls read a story in which the word "taiyo" (the sun) was repeated three times, each differentiated by the position of the word in the sentence. The target of measurement was the VOT for the word-initial voiceless consonant /t/.
Results:
When the target syllable appeared in a sentence following a comma, or at the beginning of a sentence following a period, the ABSD patients' VOTs were significantly longer than those of the ADSD patients and controls. Abnormal prolongation of the VOTs was related to the pause or silence between the test word and the preceding word.
Conclusions:
VOTs in spasmodic dysphonia (SD) may vary according to the SD subtype or speaking conditions. VOT measurement was suggested to be a useful method for quantifying voice symptoms in SD.
Related Concept Videos
Larynx
Anatomy of the Larynx
The larynx consists of various components, including cartilage, muscles, and vocal cords. Its structure includes three large unpaired cartilages—the thyroid, cricoid, and epiglottis—and three smaller paired cartilages—the arytenoids,...
Deglutition
Swallowing can be divided into three stages: the voluntary phase, the pharyngeal phase, and the esophageal phase. Although the...
Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
Pharynx
Nasopharynx
The nasopharynx, bordered by the conchae of the nasal cavity, serves exclusively as an air conduit. In its superior region, the pharyngeal tonsils or adenoids are located. These tonsils are clusters of lymphoid reticular tissue akin to a lymph node. The precise...
The Auditory Ossicles
The aptly named stapes look very much like a stirrup. The three ossicles are unique to mammals, and each plays a role in...
Prosopagnosia

