Auditory Training and Perceptual Assessment of Spasmodic Dysphonia

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Otorhinolaryngology
• Acoustic Analysis

Background:

• Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) assessment relies on subjective perceptual evaluations.
• The GRBAS protocol is a common tool, but its parameters may not fully capture SD characteristics.
• Auditory training is a potential method to improve perceptual assessment accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of auditory training on the accuracy of spasmodic dysphonia assessments.
• To investigate the effectiveness of an extended GRBAS protocol including Instability and Fluency parameters.
• To determine if auditory training enhances inter-rater reliability in SD assessment.

Main Methods:

• Three groups participated: experts, a trained group, and a control group.
• The trained group received auditory training on SD voice recordings of varying severity.
• Participants used an extended GRBAS scale (including Instability and Fluency) to assess seven SD patients.

Main Results:

• The trained group showed significant improvement in assessing Grade and Roughness compared to the control group.
• No significant differences were found for Breathiness, Asthenia, or Strain parameters.
• The highest inter-rater agreement was observed for the newly added Instability and Fluency parameters.

Conclusions:

• Auditory training can enhance the accuracy of specific parameters in spasmodic dysphonia assessment.
• An extended GRBAS scale, incorporating Instability and Fluency, shows promise for improved SD evaluation.
• A proposed application with voice quality examples could aid practitioners in SD assessments.