Validity of Acoustic Measures Obtained Using Various Recording Methods Including Smartphones With and Without Headset Microphones.
Shaheen N Awan, Ruth Bahr, Stephanie Watts and 3 others
PMID 38749007WHAT IT FOUND
Smartphone recordings produced voice measures that closely tracked a research microphone across 24 samples.
Direct phone recording did not differ from the standard for CPP and L/H ratio. Still, microphone and room noise changed some values, so do not mix devices when tracking progress.
Key findings
01Direct iPhone and Pixel recording did not differ significantly from the research standard for CPP and L/H ratio across 24 voice samples.
02Mean F0 and jitter did not differ significantly by recording method or noise condition.
03Shimmer, HNR, CPP, and L/H ratio differed significantly by recording method and noise condition.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used 24 voice samples, not a clinical trial with patients, so it cannot show whether these recording methods change patient care. Only sustained vowels were analyzed, so continuous speech, pauses, and consonant sounds may behave differently. Phones were held stationary with a holder at 2.5 cm and about 45 degrees, but real clinic use may move the phone. The AVID AE-36 plus Focusrite plus iPhone condition had electrical noise, which produced the highest mean shimmer, lowest mean HNR, and lowest mean CPP. A single severe dysphonia sample affected AVID F0 means and lowered correlations for some AVID conditions. Only three exam room noise samples and a limited set of devices were tested.
Declared interests
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant 1OT2OD032720-01, awarded to Yael Bensoussan and Olivier Elemento. The paper does not report other conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that any smartphone setup can replace a research microphone for all voice measures. Direct phones did not differ from the standard for some measures, but shimmer, HNR, CPP, and L/H ratio changed with microphone and noise, and phones were held stationary at a fixed distance.