Relationships between vocal function measures derived from an acoustic microphone and a subglottal neck-surface...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Speech Science
• Acoustics

Background:

• Subglottal neck-surface acceleration monitoring offers a noninvasive method for assessing voice characteristics.
• Low-profile accelerometers are increasingly utilized for tracking normal and disordered voice behavior.
• This study explores accelerometer-based measures as a physiological complement to traditional acoustic voice analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of subglottal neck-surface acceleration in yielding vocal function measures.
• To guide the development of clinically applicable accelerometer-based voice assessment tools.
• To compare the correlation between acoustic and accelerometer-derived voice parameters.

Main Methods:

• Simultaneous recording of acoustic pressure and subglottal neck-surface acceleration.
• Analysis of sustained vowels (/a/, /i/, /u/) from 82 adults with voice disorders and 52 healthy adults.
• Calculation and comparison of timing (jitter), amplitude (shimmer), spectral (HNR, tilt), and cepstral (CPP) measures.

Main Results:

• Strongest correlations between acoustic and accelerometer data were observed for jitter (r ≤ 0.99).
• Moderate correlations were found for shimmer (r ≤ 0.74) and cepstral peak prominence (r ≤ 0.90).
• Weaker correlations were noted for harmonics-to-noise ratio (r ≤ 0.69) and spectral tilt (r ≤ 0.57).

Conclusions:

• Subglottal neck-surface acceleration provides reliable vocal function measures, complementing acoustic analysis.
• Accelerometer technology shows potential for effective voice assessment in diverse settings.
• This research supports the integration of accelerometers into laboratory, clinical, and daily voice monitoring.