Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 22, 2025

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
Published on: September 27, 2024
Mobile Phone Applications Voice Tools and Voice Pitch Analyzer Validated With LingWAVES to Measure Voice Frequency
Lidewij S Boogers1, Britney S J Chen1, Marieke J Coerts2
1Department of Endocrinology, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, North Holland, The Netherlands; Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, North Holland, The Netherlands.
Objectives:
Voice frequency can be measured to assess the voice change in transgender men and women during treatment. There are many applications that can analyze voice frequency. This validation study aimed to compare the ability to measure voice frequency of the mobile phone applications "Voice Tools" and "Voice Pitch Analyzer" with the registration program LingWAVES as the gold standard.
Study Design:
Prospective validation study.
Methods:
A total of 45 participants of whom 20 transgender individuals were included. They were asked to read "The North Wind and the Sun" twice. The first measurement compared voice frequency measured by Voice Tools with LingWAVES while the second measurement compared Voice Pitch Analyzer with LingWAVES. The two applications that were being compared simultaneously measured the voice frequency. Pearson's regression correlations were performed to test for correlation between the mobile phone applications and LingWAVES.
Results:
Significant correlations were demonstrated between the measurements of Voice Tools and LingWAVES (P < 0.001) and between Voice Pitch Analyzer and LingWAVES (P < 0.001). Voice Tools overestimated voice frequency with a median deviation of 2Hz (range -4 to 20). The overestimation was more pronounced in the high ranges. Voice Pitch Analyzer showed underestimation of voice frequency in high ranges. Median deviation was -2Hz (range -16 to 14).
Conclusions:
This validation study shows that voice frequency can be reliably measured with the mobile phone applications "Voice Tools" and "Voice Pitch Analyzer". Combined with the ease of use, these applications can be used to measure voice frequency in clinical practice and for research purposes.
Related Concept Videos
Design Example
Perceiving Loudness, Pitch, and Location
Place theory, or place coding, suggests that different pitches are heard because various sound waves activate specific locations along the cochlea's basilar membrane. The brain determines the pitch of a sound by...
Receiver Operating Characteristic Plot
Wave Parameters
Air-entraining Agents
Perception of Sound Waves
The pitch of a sound depends on the frequency and the pressure amplitude of the source. Two sounds of the same...

