Uncertainty of Spatial Segmentation of High-Speed Videoendoscopy and Its Temporal and Spatial Dependency.
Hamzeh Ghasemzadeh, Maria E Powell, David S Ford and 1 others
PMID 40157854WHAT IT FOUND
Manual segmentation of vocal fold edges in high-speed video is less accurate at the front and back of the glottis and when the glottis is wide open.
This means measures like velocity in these areas have higher uncertainty.
Key findings
01Segmentation uncertainty is significantly higher in the most anterior and posterior sections of the glottis compared to the middle sections.
02Segmentation uncertainty is positively correlated with glottal openness, being highest when the glottis is most open.
03A 1-pixel segmentation uncertainty translates to a 40 cm/s uncertainty in vocal fold velocity measurements, which is substantial given typical velocities.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only three experts participated, which may limit the generalizability of the inter-rater variability. The study did not account for differences in diagnostic status or speaker sex, which could affect image quality and segmentation difficulty. Camera sampling rate and exposure time were fixed at 4,000 fps; different equipment settings could alter image contrast and thus segmentation uncertainty. The analysis focused on manual segmentation uncertainty as a proxy for ground truth; it did not evaluate specific automated segmentation algorithms.
Declared interests
The authors declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that all high-speed videoendoscopy measures are equally precise. The study shows that segmentation uncertainty is highest at the front and back of the glottis and when the glottis is open. Therefore, velocity or area measures taken from these specific regions or phases may have larger errors than those taken from the middle or closed phases.