The Laryngovibrogram as a normalized spatiotemporal representation of vocal fold dynamics

Area of Science:

• Laryngology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Speech Science

Background:

• High-speed video (HSV)-endoscopy is vital for diagnosing voice disorders and analyzing vocal fold (VF) vibration.
• Existing methods like the Phonovibrogram (PVG) focus only on glottal area, neglecting crucial VF tissue dynamics.
• This limited scope complicates clinical interpretation and comparability of VF vibrational behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To extend the PVG by developing a new method for comprehensive quantitative analysis of VF vibrational behavior.
• To introduce the Laryngovibrogram (LVG) for a more complete representation of VF tissue dynamics.
• To improve the accuracy and reliability of voice disorder diagnostics and treatment monitoring.

Main Methods:

• Developed the Laryngovibrogram (LVG) by segmenting both the glottal area and the VF tissue from HSV recordings.
• Investigated LVG performance on 73 HSV recordings from healthy and pathological subjects during stationary and non-stationary phonations.
• Introduced normalized vibration amplitude and VF angle calculations for quantitative comparisons and transient effect analysis.

Main Results:

• The LVG reliably maps VF vibrational behavior across the entire tissue in both healthy and pathological phonations.
• LVG-based measures showed greater stability and narrower normative ranges in healthy subjects compared to PVG.
• LVG demonstrated stronger effect sizes in differentiating clinical groups, indicating more robust assessment of vibratory impairments.

Conclusions:

• The LVG represents a paradigm shift towards a holistic analysis of laryngeal dynamics, integrating VF tissue information.
• This approach enhances pathology detection accuracy and reduces subjective assessment errors in voice disorder diagnosis.
• The LVG facilitates meaningful quantitative comparisons and optimizes treatment follow-ups, improving clinical diagnostics and therapeutic outcomes.