Empirical Evaluation of the Role of Vocal Fold Collision on Relative Fundamental Frequency in Voicing Offset.
Matti D Groll, Sean D Peterson, Matías Zañartu and 2 others
PMID 36336485WHAT IT FOUND
Aligning voice analysis to the moment vocal folds stop touching, rather than when sound ends, cut within-speaker variability by about a third.
This supports the theory that vocal fold collision drives pitch changes at voice offset. The method requires endoscopy and is not yet clinically feasible.
Key findings
01The new 'Vocal Fold Contact RFF' method reduced within-speaker variability in the final offset cycle by 37.9% in no-effort conditions and 33.0% in maximum-effort conditions compared to traditional methods.
02Both traditional and new RFF methods showed decreased mean values when speakers increased vocal effort, confirming the new method retains sensitivity to laryngeal tension.
03The study relied on endoscopic video to identify the end of vocal fold contact, a requirement the authors state makes the method clinically unfeasible at present.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The method requires endoscopic video to mark vocal fold contact, making it impractical for routine clinical use. High rejection rate: 36% of utterances and 10 of 45 participants were excluded because fewer than five voicing cycles followed the end of contact. Participants were young adults with typical voices, not patients with voice disorders, so findings may not apply to pathological populations. Vocal effort was self-perceived; participants may have used different levels of effort despite identical instructions. The study only examined voicing offset, not voicing onset.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The study was conducted under Boston University Institutional Review Board guidelines.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume this new method is available for clinical use. The reduction in variability was achieved by aligning acoustic data to endoscopic video of vocal fold contact. The authors explicitly state this reliance on endoscopy makes the method clinically unfeasible. Traditional RFF remains the only acoustic option available in standard practice, and it retains the variability issues this study highlights.