Many voice disorders are linked to imbalanced muscle activity and known to exhibit asymmetric vocal fold vibration. However, the relation between imbalanced muscle activation and asymmetric vocal fold vibration is not well understood. This study introduces an asymmetric triangular body-cover model of the vocal folds, controlled by the activation of bilateral intrinsic laryngeal muscles, to investigate the effects of muscle imbalance on vocal fold oscillation. Various scenarios were considered, encompassing imbalance in individual muscles and muscle pairs, as well as accounting for asymmetry in lumped element parameters. Measurements of amplitude and phase asymmetries were employed to match the oscillatory behavior of two pathological cases: unilateral paralysis and muscle tension dysphonia. The resulting simulations exhibit muscle imbalance consistent with expectations in the composition of these voice disorders, yielding asymmetries exceeding 30% for paralysis and below 5% for dysphonia. This underscores the relevance of muscle imbalance in representing phonatory scenarios and its potential for characterizing asymmetry in vocal fold vibration.

Voice quality has been defined variously in the literature ranging from states or postures of the glottis and vocal tract in general most broadly, to a narrower definition which refers to characteristics of vocal fold vibration during voiced phonation. Linguists have traditionally broken the voicing continuum into five basic categories based on roles they play in a language\'s phonology: (spread) voiceless, breathy, modal, creaky, (constricted) voiceless. Of these, the three central states, breathy, modal, creaky, are relevant to voice quality as discussed in this work. Voice qualities can be modelled as an interaction between subglottal pressure, degree of vocal fold approximation (aperture), longitudinal tension of the vocal folds (stiffness), and medial compression of the vocal folds (thickness). Breathy voicing is achieved with high glottal aperture, low stiffness, and low thickness, resulting in noise, low pitch, and increased spectral tilt. Creaky voicing has differing realizations depending on its linguistic role, prototypical creaky voice has low aperture, low stiffness, and high thickness, resulting in irregular and lower pitch, and decreased spectral tilt. Several other types of creaky voice quality exist including: 1) glottal fry, 2) multiply pulsed voice, and 3) nonconstricted creak. In this paper, we focus on creaky voice broadly-defined and concentrate on its distribution in North American English. While not contrastive, it plays an important role in phonology and a wide variety of other discourse, pragmatic, and social functions. In this context we present some of our current research into segmental and social factors relating to creaky voicing. We find a correlation between vowel height and creaky voicing. We also find evidence that voice quality is used by men to index gender in conversational speech. Our findings bear on the debate about the sociolinguistic uses of voice quality.
La qualité de voix a été définie de multiples façons dans la littérature spécialisée. Certains l’identifient, de manière très générale, aux diverses configurations de la glotte et de l’appareil phonatoire, alors que d’autres la restreignent aux modes de vibration des replis vocaux lors des épisodes de phonation voisée. Les linguistes considèrent traditionnellement que le continuum de la phonation recouvre cinq catégories principales, définies en fonction du rôle qu’elles remplissent dans la phonologie des langues du monde : la phonation nulle avec replis vocaux écartés, la voix soufflée, la voix modale, la voix craquée et la phonation nulle avec replis vocaux resserrés. Parmi ces cinq catégories, les trois états centraux : la voix soufflée, la voix modale et la voix craquée relèvent du domaine de la qualité de voix telle que traitée dans cet article. Les différentes qualités de voix peuvent se modéliser selon une interaction entre pression subglottique et degré d’ouverture, tension longitudinale et compression médiane des replis vocaux. La voix soufflée est produite en conférant un haut degré d’ouverture, un faible degré de tension longitudinale et un faible degré de compression médiane aux replis vocaux. La conjonction de ces ajustements engendre un bruit de friction, des fréquences basses et une élévation de l’inclinaison spectrale. La voix craquée se décline en diverses variétés en fonction de la fonction qu’elle remplit sur le plan linguistique. La voix craquée prototypique se définit par un faible degré d’ouverture des replis vocaux, un faible degré de tension longitudinale et un haut degré de compression médiane. La combinaison de ces ajustements résulte en des fréquences basses et irrégulières ainsi qu’en un abaissement de l’inclinaison spectrale. Il existe plusieurs autres types de voix craquées, au nombre desquels : 1) la « friture » glottique (glottal fry), 2) la voix pulsée (multiply pulsed voice) et 3) le craquement sans constriction (nonconstricted creak). Dans cet article, nous nous concentrons sur la voix craquée définie dans son acception la plus large et nous intéressons à sa distribution en anglais nord-américain. Bien que la voix craquée ne possède pas un statut contrastif, elle joue un rôle prépondérant en phonologie et remplit une gamme étendue de fonctions sociales, discursives et pragmatiques. C’est dans cette perspective que nous présentons une partie de l’état actuel de notre recherche sur les facteurs sociaux et les caractéristiques segmentales corrélés à la production de la voix craquée. Nous mettons ainsi en lumière le rapport observé entre hauteur des voyelles et usage de la voix craquée ainsi que certains éléments empiriques indiquant que les locuteurs hommes utilisent la qualité de voix pour marquer leur masculinité. Ces résultats sont de nature à enrichir le débat sur les fonctions sociolinguistiques de la qualité de voix.

The Kam language has experienced historical tonal splits, resulting in the development of a complex tonal system. However, there is still limited knowledge regarding the acoustic characteristics associated with aspiration-based tone splitting. This study aims to investigate the acoustic cues related to the tonal registers and laryngeal configurations in Donglei Kam, a dialect of Southern Kam. Sixteen native speakers of Donglei Kam participated, producing lexical tones. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine the acoustic distinctions between tonal registers, using measurements of voice onset time, spectral tilt, noise, and energy. The results indicated that Donglei Kam retained a two-way contrast of aspiration, albeit with a trend toward gradual loss. Additionally, a breathy voice was detected in the Ciyin tonal register, characterized by elevated spectral tilt values and spectral noise throughout the vowels. Moreover, machine learning classifiers effectively identified tonal registers using voice-quality data, suggesting that the phonation contrast between breathy and modal voice could contribute to the tonal split alongside pitch contrast. In summary, these findings enhance our understanding of the acoustic implementation of breathiness in Kam and offer valuable insights into the role of laryngeal contrast in tonal splits.

Speech alterations have been reported in manifest Huntington\'s disease (HD) and premanifest mutation carriers (preHD). The aim of our study was to explore these alterations in preHD and whether they can be used as biomarkers. 13 preHD mutation carriers performed reading task, sustained phonation task and syllable repetition tasks at baseline and after 21 months, as well as clinical examination and MRI. Syllable repetition capacity and self-chosen velocity of single syllable repetition differed significantly between time points. There were no changes in clinical ratings or MRI volumetry. Measurements of speech might be sensitive tools for monitoring subclinical changes in preHD.

How we produce and perceive voice is constrained by laryngeal physiology and biomechanics. Such constraints may present themselves as principal dimensions in the voice outcome space that are shared among speakers. This study attempts to identify such principal dimensions in the voice outcome space and the underlying laryngeal control mechanisms in a three-dimensional computational model of voice production. A large-scale voice simulation was performed with parametric variations in vocal fold geometry and stiffness, glottal gap, vocal tract shape, and subglottal pressure. Principal component analysis was applied to data combining both the physiological control parameters and voice outcome measures. The results showed three dominant dimensions accounting for at least 50% of the total variance. The first two dimensions describe respiratory-laryngeal coordination in controlling the energy balance between low- and high-frequency harmonics in the produced voice, and the third dimension describes control of the fundamental frequency. The dominance of these three dimensions suggests that voice changes along these principal dimensions are likely to be more consistently produced and perceived by most speakers than other voice changes, and thus are more likely to have emerged during evolution and be used to convey important personal information, such as emotion and larynx size.

Intonation in speech is the control of vocal pitch to layer expressive meaning to communication, like increasing pitch to indicate a question. Also, stereotyped patterns of pitch are used to create distinct sounds with different denotations, like in tonal languages and, perhaps, the 10 sounds in the murine lexicon. A basic tone is created by exhalation through a constricted laryngeal voice box, and it is thought that more complex utterances are produced solely by dynamic changes in laryngeal tension. But perhaps, the shifting pitch also results from altering the swiftness of exhalation. Consistent with the latter model, we describe that intonation in most vocalization types follows deviations in exhalation that appear to be generated by the re-activation of the cardinal breathing muscle for inspiration. We also show that the brainstem vocalization central pattern generator, the iRO, can create this breath pattern. Consequently, ectopic activation of the iRO not only induces phonation, but also the pitch patterns that compose most of the vocalizations in the murine lexicon. These results reveal a novel brainstem mechanism for intonation.

The study of animal sounds in biology and ecology relies heavily upon time-frequency (TF) visualisation, most commonly using the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) spectrogram. This method, however, has inherent bias towards either temporal or spectral details that can lead to misinterpretation of complex animal sounds. An ideal TF visualisation should accurately convey the structure of the sound in terms of both frequency and time, however, the STFT often cannot meet this requirement. We evaluate the accuracy of four TF visualisation methods (superlet transform [SLT], continuous wavelet transform [CWT] and two STFTs) using a synthetic test signal. We then apply these methods to visualise sounds of the Chagos blue whale, Asian elephant, southern cassowary, eastern whipbird, mulloway fish and the American crocodile. We show that the SLT visualises the test signal with 18.48%-28.08% less error than the other methods. A comparison between our visualisations of animal sounds and their literature descriptions indicates that the STFT\'s bias may have caused misinterpretations in describing pygmy blue whale songs and elephant rumbles. We suggest that use of the SLT to visualise low-frequency animal sounds may prevent such misinterpretations. Finally, we employ the SLT to develop \'BASSA\', an open-source, GUI software application that offers a no-code, user-friendly tool for analysing short-duration recordings of low-frequency animal sounds for the Windows platform. The SLT visualises low-frequency animal sounds with improved accuracy, in a user-friendly format, minimising the risk of misinterpretation while requiring less technical expertise than the STFT. Using this method could propel advances in acoustics-driven studies of animal communication, vocal production methods, phonation and species identification.

OBJECTIVE: Open partial horizontal laryngectomies (OPHLs) represent a comparable alternative to total laryngectomy and nonsurgical protocols in selected cases. While short-term functional outcomes of OPHLs have been widely investigated, few have focused on the effect of aging on residual laryngeal structures.
METHODS: Retrospective cohort study.
METHODS: Tertiary care academic center.
METHODS: Patients who underwent OPHLs after at least 1 year follow-up and optimal functional rehabilitation were included in the study. Swallowing function was assessed according to PAS (Penetration aspiration scale) and Pooling scores. Spectrogram analysis of voice was conducted according to Yanagihara classification and acoustic parameters were also recorded. Subjective questionnaire data about phonation and swallowing were also recorded. Data obtained were compared among patients according to age at time of surgery, evaluation and duration of follow-up.
RESULTS: Ninety-seven patients were enrolled with a mean age at surgery and evaluation of 63 and 70 years old, respectively. Median follow-up length was 5 years. OPHL type II was mostly performed. No significant correlation was observed between most of the analyzed variables and patient\'s age at the time of surgery and at the time of evaluation. Some acoustic parameters were negatively correlated with follow-up length, while Jitter, NHR (Noise-Harmonic Ratio), and Global grade and Roughness were significantly higher in patients >65 years old.
CONCLUSIONS: Patients who complete rehabilitation reach equally good results as their younger peers with stability over time. Finally, the effects of aging on residual larynx are of minor entity compared to the nonoperated patients.
METHODS: Level IV-retrospective cohort study.

UNASSIGNED: This systematic review aimed to evaluate the effects of singing as an intervention for aging voice.
UNASSIGNED: Quantitative studies of interventions for older adults with any medical condition that involves singing as training were reviewed, measured by respiration, phonation, and posture, which are the physical functions related to the aging voice. English and Chinese studies published until April 2024 were searched using 31 electronic databases, and seven studies were included. The included articles were assessed according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations rubric.
UNASSIGNED: Seven studies were included. These studies reported outcome measures that were related to respiratory functions only. For the intervention effect, statistically significant improvements were observed in five of the included studies, among which three studies had large effect sizes. The overall level of evidence of the included studies was not high, with three studies having moderate levels and the rest having lower levels. The intervention activities included trainings other than singing. These non-singing training items may have caused co-intervention bias in the study results.
UNASSIGNED: This systematic review suggests that singing as an intervention for older adults with respiratory and cognitive problems could improve respiration and respiratory-phonatory control. However, none of the included studies covers the other two of the physical functions related to aging voice (phonatory and postural functions). The overall level of evidence of the included studies was not high either. There is a need for more research evidence in singing-based intervention specifically for patient with aging voice.

UNASSIGNED: Although different factors and voice measures have been associated with phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction (PVH), it is unclear what percentage of individuals with PVH exhibit such differences during their daily lives. This study used a machine learning approach to quantify the consistency with which PVH manifests according to ambulatory voice measures. Analyses included acoustic parameters of phonation as well as temporal aspects of phonation and rest, with the goal of determining optimally consistent signatures of PVH.
UNASSIGNED: Ambulatory neck-surface acceleration signals were recorded over 1 week from 116 female participants diagnosed with PVH and age-, sex-, and occupation-matched vocally healthy controls. The consistency of the manifestation of PVH was defined as the percentage of participants in each group that exhibited an atypical signature based on a target voice measure. Evaluation of each machine learning model used nested 10-fold cross-validation to improve the generalizability of findings. In Experiment 1, we trained separate logistic regression models based on the distributional characteristics of 14 voice measures and durations of voicing and resting segments. In Experiments 2 and 3, features of voicing and resting duration augmented the existing distributional characteristics to examine whether more consistent signatures would result.
UNASSIGNED: Experiment 1 showed that the difference in the magnitude of the first two harmonics (H1-H2) exhibited the most consistent signature (69.4% of participants with PVH and 20.4% of controls had an atypical H1-H2 signature), followed by spectral tilt over eight harmonics (73.6% participants with PVH and 32.1% of controls had an atypical spectral tilt signature) and estimated sound pressure level (SPL; 66.9% participants with PVH and 27.6% of controls had an atypical SPL signature). Additionally, 77.6% of participants with PVH had atypical resting duration, with 68.9% exhibiting atypical voicing duration. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that augmenting the best-performing voice measures with univariate features of voicing or resting durations yielded only incremental improvement in the classifier\'s performance.
UNASSIGNED: Females with PVH were more likely to use more abrupt vocal fold closure (lower H1-H2), phonate louder (higher SPL), and take shorter vocal rests. They were also less likely to use higher fundamental frequency during their daily activities. The difference in the voicing duration signature between participants with PVH and controls had a large effect size, providing strong empirical evidence regarding the role of voice use in the development of PVH.