BACKGROUND: Regarding human coronavirus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic, the novelty of disease, and consequently the lack of studies, the etiology of dysphonia in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 is still unknown and needs to be investigated. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effect of a new manual therapy technique, cricothyroid visor maneuver, on muscle tension dysphonia symptoms for a patient who had experienced dysphonia symptoms due to the coronavirus disease 2019 infection.
METHODS: A 55-year-old retired Iranian teacher who was diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia by an otolaryngologist participated in this study. Fifty days before being referred to an otolaryngologist, he was diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 on the basis of the results of a standard laboratory test, namely real-time polymerase chain reaction. Treatment was provided in ten sessions. Pre- and post-treatment audio recordings of sustained vowels, selected sentences, and connected speech samples were submitted for auditory perceptual and acoustic analysis to assess the effects of the treatment program. Also, videolaryngostroboscopy voice quality perceptions by the patient, both before and after therapy, were assessed. The reduction in all features of the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice was observed. The results of acoustic assessment showed that jitter (35.13%) and shimmer (20.48%) decreased; moreover, the harmonics-to-noise ratio (1.17%), cepstral peak prominence smoothed (28.53%) and maximum phonation time (15.5%) increased after treatment sessions. The scores of four parameters of Stroboscopy Examination Rating Form (SERF) form changed after cricothyroid visor maneuver therapy. Also, the visual analog scales score at the pre-treatment assessment was 40, and increased to 90 at the post-treatment assessment.
CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of cricothyroid visor maneuver therapy on dysphonia associated with coronavirus disease 2019 was investigated in the current study. This case study has highlighted chronic dysphonia after coronavirus disease 2019 infection, and suggests that the cricothyroid visor maneuver therapy approach may have positive outcomes for patients with muscle tension dysphonia with this background.

As a class, fricatives are more \"resistant\" to consonant-vowel coarticulation than other English sounds. This study investigates the relative coarticulatory resistance of /θ, s, ʃ/ in child and adult speech to better understand the acquisition of individuated speech sounds.
Ten 5-year-old children, seven 8-year-old children, and nine college-age adults produced [əFV] sequences in carrier phrases, where F was /θ/, /s/, or /ʃ/ and V was /æ/, /i/, or /u/. In Experiment 1, coarticulation was perceptually indexed: 65 adults predicted the target stressed vowel based on forward-gated audiovisual speech samples for a subset of four speakers from each age group. In Experiment 2, dynamic spectral measures of the /əFV/ sequences were analyzed using smoothing spline analysis of variance to again test for vowel effects on fricative articulation across age groups.
The perceptual results indicated that fricatives blocked vowel-vowel coarticulation across speaker age groups. Contrary to expectation, vowels were most accurately predicted when F was /s/ and not when it was /ʃ/ or /θ/ across age groups. Acoustic results indicated the expected biomechanically motivated /ʃ/ > /s/ > /θ/ coarticulatory resistance hierarchy in adults\' speech. By contrast, /ʃ/ > /s/ were similarly influenced by context in 8-year-olds\' speech, and the results from 5-year-olds\' speech suggested an influence of order of acquisition in that /θ/ was surprisingly resistant to coarticulation.
The study results are taken to suggest that a temporal constraint on fricative articulation interacts with biomechanical constraints during development to influence patterns of coarticulation in school-age children\'s speech.

OBJECTIVE: A case study was used to determine which acoustic parameters would be sensitive to a SOVT-based vocal warm-up over the duration of a standard voice treatment.
METHODS: The longitudinal research design consisted of repeated voice measures during 7 weeks from a single subject, a 48-year-old male occupational voice user with a history of voice disorders. A steady phonation and running speech tasks were performed before and after an intensive 1-minute water-resistance voice exercise (WRT). Acoustic assessment of the pre-and postrecordings from each session was obtained with freely accessible software (e.g., Audacity, PRAAT) and acoustic measures (e.g., fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, alpha ratio, NHR, HNR, L1L0, Cepstral Peak Prominence smoothed).
RESULTS: After WRT, the analysis indicated that jitter, shimmer, and NHR had a small but statistically significant decrease, while alpha ratio, CPPS, and HNR had a statistically significant increase. For the days where there were six repetitions, there was a larger effect in the later repetitions in the day for some metrics (i.e., alpha ratio, shimmer, NHR, CPPS), while others had the biggest effect in the first two repetitions in a day (i.e., jitter, HNR).
CONCLUSIONS: A short vocal water-resistance voice task had a positive effect on the short-term acoustic voice metrics after each repetition of the exercise, independent of the number of repetitions throughout the day. When five repetitions of this exercise routine occurred, there was a more substantial influence on the proportion of acoustic voice changes.

BACKGROUND: In open-plan office rooms, one of the main reasons for the nuisance of work is the noise from employees\' conversations. In order to limit it, the permissible values of the parameters characterizing the acoustic properties in those rooms on a 2-level scale are defined.
METHODS: The article introduces a 3-level scale for assessing the acoustic properties (bad, fair, good) of a room based on EN ISO 3382‑3:2012 and PN-B-02151-4:2015 - criterion 1. Additionally and alternatively, a new 3-level scale assessment criterion (criterion 2), concerning acoustic separation between groups of workstations, was determined. In order to meet that criterion, it is necessary to take into account the acoustic treatment of the room. A multivariate (7) acoustic treatment studies were performed using computational simulation methods.
RESULTS: Requirements, according to PN-B-02151-4:2015, were met after the application of a sound-absorbing suspended ceiling and acoustic screens at workplaces. To meet the requirements of EN ISO 3382‑3:2012, it was necessary to additionally use sound-absorbing materials on the walls and acoustic screens separating the naves of the room. To meet the requirements of criterion 2, it was necessary to additionally use acoustic screens separating groups of workstations and acoustic screens in passages.
CONCLUSIONS: Appropriate acoustic properties can be obtained in open space offices. Appropriate acoustic properties can be obtained in open-space offices. The requirements according to PN-B-02151-4:2015 can be met with much lower acoustic treatment than the requirements according to EN ISO 3382‑3:2012. The use of a 3-level scale for assessing the acoustic properties of a room allows for the differentiation of rooms with regard to their acoustic properties. The introduction of a new assessment method, taking into account the grouping of workplaces in a room, makes it possible to assess the acoustic properties of a room in a more reliable way, by neglecting the impact on the assessment of areas where people are not present. Med Pr. 2021;72(4):375-90.
UNASSIGNED: W biurowych pomieszczeniach open space jedną z podstawowych przyczyn uciążliwości pracy jest hałas rozmów pracowników. W celu jego ograniczenia określono dopuszczalne wartości wielkości charakteryzujących właściwości akustyczne w tych pomieszczeniach w skali dwustopniowej.
UNASSIGNED: W artykule wprowadzono trzystopniową skalę oceny właściwości akustycznych pomieszczenia (złe, słabe, dobre) bazującą na wielkościach oceny według PN-B-02151-4:2015 oraz PN-EN ISO 3382‑3:2012 – kryterium I. Określono dodatkowo nowe, także trzystopniowe, II kryterium oceny dotyczące separacji akustycznej między grupami stanowisk pracy. W celu jego spełnienia konieczne jest uwzględnienie adaptacji akustycznej pomieszczenia. Podano wyniki badania metodami symulacji obliczeniowej wielowariantowej (7) adaptacji akustycznej w pomieszczeniu trzynawowym.
UNASSIGNED: Wymagania PN-B-02151-4:2015 (kryterium I) zostały spełnione po zastosowaniu: dźwiękochłonnego sufitu podwieszanego i ekranów akustycznych przy stanowiskach pracy. Do spełnienia wymagań PN-EN ISO 3382-3:2012 (kryterium I) konieczne było dodatkowe uwzględnienie materiałów dźwiękochłonnych na wewnętrznych ścianach pomieszczenia oraz ekranów akustycznych rozdzielających nawy pomieszczenia. Do spełnienia wymagań kryterium II konieczne okazało się dodatkowe zastosowanie ekranów akustycznych rozdzielających grupy stanowisk pracy oraz ekranów akustycznych w ciągach komunikacyjnych dla pieszych.
UNASSIGNED: Jest możliwe uzyskanie odpowiednich właściwości akustycznych w pomieszczeniach biurowych open space. Wymagania określone zgodnie z PN-B-02151-4:2015 można spełnić przy znacznie mniejszej adaptacji akustycznej niż wymagania PN-EN ISO 3382‑3:2012. Zastosowanie trzystopniowej skali oceny właściwości akustycznych pomieszczenia pozwala w bardziej precyzyjny sposób różnicować je pod względem ich właściwości akustycznych. Wprowadzenie nowego sposobu oceny, uwzględniającego grupowanie stanowisk pracy w pomieszczeniu, pozwala w bardziej miarodajny sposób oceniać właściwości akustyczne przez pominięcie wpływu na ocenę obszarów, w których nie przebiega praca. Med. Pr. 2021;72(4):375–390.

Objective: In this case report, we aimed to examine the effects of an intensive voice treatment (the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment [LSVT®LOUD]) for Wilson\'s disease (WD), and adult cerebral palsy (CP), and dysarthria.Method: The participants received LSVT®LOUD four times a week for 4 weeks. Acoustic, perceptual (GRBAS) analyses were performed and data from the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) were obtained before and after treatment.Results: Besides the Harmonics-to Noise Ratio (HNR) value (dB) of the participant with WD, for both participants\' fundamental frequencies (Hz), jitter (%), and shimmer (%) values showed significant differences (p < .05) after therapy. Both participants showed significant improvements (p < .05) in the duration (s) and the sound pressure level (dB, SPL) of sustained vowel phonation (/a/), in SPL (dB) of pitch range (high and low /a/) and reading and conversation (p < .01). There was a positive improvement in the high-frequency values (Hz) of both participants but not in the low-frequency values (Hz) in the participant with WD. Perceptual analysis with GRBAS judgements of sustained vowel (/a/) and paragraph reading of two participants also showed improvement. After therapy, perceived loudness of the participants\' voice increased.Conclusions: The findings provide some preliminary observations that the individuals with WD and the adult individuals with CP can respond positively to intensive speech treatment such as LSVT®LOUD. Further studies are needed to investigate speech treatments specific to WD and adult CP.

Media Lengua (ML), a mixed language derived from Quichua and Spanish, exhibits a phonological system that largely conforms to that of Quichua acoustically. Yet, it incorporates a large number of vowel sequences from Spanish which do not occur in the Quichua system. This includes the use of mid-vowels, which are phonetically realized in ML as largely overlapping with the high-vowels in acoustic space. We analyze and compare production of vowel sequences by speakers of ML, Quichua, and Spanish through the use of generalized additive mixed models to determine statistically significant differences between vowel formant trajectories. Our results indicate that Spanish-derived ML vowel sequences frequently differ significantly from their Spanish counterparts, largely occupying a more central region of the vowel space and frequently exhibiting markedly reduced trajectories over time. In contrast, we find only one case where an ML vowel sequence differs significantly from its Quichua counterpart-and even in this case the difference from Spanish is substantially greater. Our findings show how the vowel system of ML successfully integrates novel vowel sequence patterns from Spanish into what is essentially Quichua phonology by markedly adapting their production, while still maintaining contrasts which are not expressed in Quichua.

Recent research has proposed that listeners use prosodic information to guide their processing of phonemic contrasts. Given that prosodic organization of the speech signal systematically modulates durational patterns (e.g., accentual lengthening and phrase-final (PF) lengthening), listeners\' perception of durational contrasts has been argued to be influenced by prosodic factors. For example, given that sounds are generally lengthened preceding a prosodic boundary, listeners may adjust their perception of durational cues accordingly, effectively compensating for prosodically-driven temporal patterns. In the present study we present two experiments designed to test the importance of pitch-based cues to prosodic structure for listeners\' perception of contrastive vowel length (CVL) in Tokyo Japanese along these lines. We tested if, when a target sound is cued as being PF, listeners compensatorily adjust categorization of vowel duration, in accordance with PF lengthening. Both experiments were a two-alternative forced choice task in which listeners categorized a vowel duration continuum as a phonemically short or long vowel. We manipulated only pitch surrounding the target sound in a carrier phrase to cue it as intonational phrase final, or accentual phrase medial. In Experiment 1 we tested perception of an accented target word, and in Experiment 2 we tested perception of an unaccented target word. In both experiments, we found that contextual changes in pitch influenced listeners\' perception of CVL, in accordance with their function as signaling intonational structure. Results therefore suggest that listeners use tonal information to compute prosodic structure and bring this to bear on their perception of durational contrasts in speech.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study is the clinical investigation of a patient with a vocal fold polyp, and the visual, acoustical, perceptual, and self-report changes before and after using the cricothyroid visor manoeuvre (CVM).
METHODS: A 48-year-old female university professor, gynecologist, and obstetrician with a history of laryngopharyngeal reflux and a left vocal polyp participated. Treatment was provided in 10 sessions. Pre- and post-treatment audio recordings of sustained vowels, selected sentences, and connected speech samples were submitted to auditory-perceptual and acoustical analysis to assess the effects of the two-treatment program. Also, laryngoscopic images, perceptions by the patient about her voice quality and quality of life before and after therapy were assessed.
RESULTS: Improvements in acoustic parameters were obtained especially in perturbation and CCPS parameters. The overall voice quality scores on the CAPE-V were moderate before therapy and became mild after therapy. Laryngoscopy images demonstrated improvement in the glottis closure configuration in two phases (open and close) in pre- and post- CVM therapy and a decrease in polyp size. The patient had improvement in VAS, IVQLP, and VRQOL scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The CVM therapy used in the study resulted in positive changes in acoustic and perceptual-auditory aspects of voice production, self-report, and QOL for the patient. The CVM approach appears to have been effective for this case in decreasing the polyp size or its regression or for vocal adaptation.

UNASSIGNED: Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease. The characteristic symptoms of the disease are muscle weakness and fatigue. These symptoms affect de oral muscles causing dysarthria, affecting about 60% of patients with disease progression.
UNASSIGNED: Describe the speech pattern of patients with MG and comparing with healthy controls (HC).
UNASSIGNED: Case-control study. Participants were divided in MG group (MGG) with 38 patients MG diagnosed and HC with 18 individuals matched for age and sex. MGG was evaluated with clinical and motor scales and answered self-perceived questionnaires. Speech assessment of both groups included: recording of speech tasks, acoustic and auditory-perceptual analysis.
UNASSIGNED: In the MGG, 68.24% of the patients were female, with average age of 50.21 years old (±16.47), 14.18 years (±9.52) of disease duration and a motor scale of 11.19 points (±8.79). The auditory-perceptual analysis verified that 47.36% (n = 18) participants in MGG presented mild dysarthria, 10.52% (n = 4) moderate dysarthria, with a high percentage of alterations in phonation (95.2%) and breathing (52.63%). The acoustic analysis verified a change in phonation, with significantly higher shimmer values in the MGG compared to the HC and articulation with a significant difference between the groups for the first formant of the /iu/ (p = <.001). No correlation was found between the diagnosis of speech disorder and the dysarthria self-perception questionnaire.
UNASSIGNED: We found dysarthria mild in MG patients with changes in the motor bases phonation and breathing, with no correlation with severity and disease duration.

OBJECTIVE: To verify the auditory-perceptual and acoustic effects of the semioccluded vocal tract exercise with Finnish tube on the vocal quality of a deaf musician.
METHODS: A seven-day protocol with Finnish tube was performed with guidance for its home replication twice a day. A 46-years-old man with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, musician and composer participated. Before and after the application of the protocol had undergone tonal audiometry, nasofibrolaryngoscopy, acoustic analysis with Praat and auditory-perceptual evaluation of the voice with Voice Profile Analysis Scheme for Brazilian Portuguese.
RESULTS: The postintervention auditory-perceptual analysis identified reduction of the deviation in lip spreading, extensive labial range, raised tongue body, pharyngeal expansion, nasal resonance, larynx height, larynx and vocal tract tension and irregularity, pitch, speech rate, and a better respiratory support. The maximum phonation time reduced, probably because of elimination of the abrupt vocal attack and tension, articulatory deviations, improvement in voicing and the absence of the use of expiratory reserve air. The fundamental frequency became lower, and the first, second, third, and fourth formants became higher. The jitter increased, and the shimmer reduced.
CONCLUSIONS: The use of the Finnish tube might have facilitated the voicing sensations in the deaf musician, by enhancing the tactile-kinesthetic perception of the vocal tract and brought a greater source-filter interaction.