Developing Clinically Relevant Scales of Breathy and Rough Voice Quality.
David A Eddins, Supraja Anand, Arianna Lang and 1 others
PMID 31932189WHAT IT FOUND
Twenty-five listeners rated synthetic breathy and rough sounds consistently.
Researchers defined 1 breathiness unit at 18 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 1 roughness unit at -27 dB modulation depth. No real patient voices were rated.
Key findings
01Twenty-five listeners were highly consistent when rating breathiness, with correlation values of 0.96 across listeners and within listeners.
02Roughness ratings were similarly consistent, with correlation values of 0.94 across listeners and within listeners.
03The researchers set 1 breathiness unit at 18 dB signal-to-noise ratio and 1 roughness unit at -27 dB modulation depth.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 25 listeners were studied, and they had minimal previous exposure to dysphonic voice. The ratings were made to synthetic sounds, not to real patient voice samples. The fitted functions deviated somewhat from the perceptual data at the normal end of the continuum. The reference point for each scale was arbitrarily chosen. No treatment, patient outcomes, or clinical software testing were reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as a validated clinical scale or as evidence that it improves voice treatment. The study tested 25 listeners rating synthetic sounds, and the paper says further validation with vocal stimuli is needed.