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- Ternström, Sten, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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The Voice Range Profile : its function, applications, pitfalls and potential
- 2016
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Ingår i: Acta Acoustica united with Acustica. - : S. Hirzel Verlag. - 1610-1928 .- 1861-9959. ; 102:2, s. 268-283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An overview is given of the current status of the computerised voice range profile (VRP) as a voice measurement paradigm. Its operating principles are described, and sources of errors and variability are discussed. The features of the VRP contour and its characterisaï¿œtion are described. Methods for performing statistics on VRP contour and interior data are considered. Examples are given of clinical, pedagogical and research applications. Finally, issues with the models used to interpret VRP data are discussed. It is concluded that, while the VRP offers a convenient frame of reference for a multitude of voice assessment metrics, it also exposes the many degrees of freedom in the voice to an extent that challenges us to improve our models of how the voice functions over a large range and in a dynamic setting.
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3. |
- Gustafsson, Joakim Körner, et al.
(författare)
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Voice use in daily life studied with a portable voice accumulator in individuals with Parkinson’s disease and matched healthy controls
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. - 1092-4388 .- 1558-9102. ; 62:12, s. 4324-4334
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this work was to study how voice use in daily life is impacted by Parkinson’s disease (PD), specifically if there is a difference in voice sound level and phonation ratio during everyday activities for individuals with PD and matched healthy controls. A further aim was to study how variations in environmental noise impact voice use. Method: Long-term registration of voice use during 1 week in daily life was performed for 21 participants with PD (11 male, 10 female) and 21 matched healthy controls using the portable voice accumulator VoxLog. Voice use was assessed through registrations of spontaneous speech in different ranges of environmental noise in daily life and in a controlled studio recording setting. Results: Individuals with PD use their voice 50%-60% less than their matched healthy controls in daily life. The difference increases in high levels of environmental noise. Individuals with PD used an average voice sound level in daily life that was 8.11 dB (female) and 6.7 dB (male) lower than their matched healthy controls. Difference in mean voice sound level for individuals with PD and controls during spontaneous speech during a controlled studio registration was 3.0 dB for the female group and 4.1 dB for the male group. Conclusions: The observed difference in voice use in daily life between individuals with PD and matched healthy controls is a 1st step to objectively quantify the impact of PD on communicative participation. The variations in voice use in different levels of environmental noise and when comparing controlled and variable environments support the idea that the study of voice use should include methods to assess function in less controlled situations outside the clinical setting.
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4. |
- Körner Gustafsson, Joakim, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term effects of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment on daily voice use in Parkinson’s disease as measured with a portable voice accumulator
- 2019
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Ingår i: Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1401-5439 .- 1651-2022. ; 44:3, s. 124-133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines the effects of an intensive voice treatment focusing on increasing voice intensity, LSVT LOUD¯ Lee Silverman Voice Treatment, on voice use in daily life in a participant with Parkinson’s disease, using a portable voice accumulator, the VoxLog. A secondary aim was to compare voice use between the participant and a matched healthy control. Participants were an individual with Parkinson’s disease and his healthy monozygotic twin. Voice use was registered with the VoxLog during 9 weeks for the individual with Parkinson’s disease and 2 weeks for the control. This included baseline registrations for both participants, 4 weeks during LSVT LOUD for the individual with Parkinson’s disease and 1 week after treatment for both participants. For the participant with Parkinson’s disease, follow-up registrations at 3, 6, and 12 months post-treatment were made. The individual with Parkinson’s disease increased voice intensity during registrations in daily life with 4.1 dB post-treatment and 1.4 dB at 1-year follow-up compared to before treatment. When monitored during laboratory recordings an increase of 5.6 dB was seen post-treatment and 3.8 dB at 1-year follow-up. Changes in voice intensity were interpreted as a treatment effect as no significant correlations between changes in voice intensity and background noise were found for the individual with Parkinson’s disease. The increase in voice intensity in a laboratory setting was comparable to findings previously reported following LSVT LOUD. The increase registered using ambulatory monitoring in daily life was lower but still reflecting a clinically relevant change.
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5. |
- Pabon, Peter, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Feature maps of the acoustic spectrum of the voice
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Voice. - : Elsevier. - 0892-1997 .- 1873-4588. ; 34:1, s. 161.e1-161.e26
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The change in the spectrum of sustained /a/ vowels was mapped over the voice range from low to high fundamental frequency and low to high sound pressure level (SPL), in the form of the so-called voice range profile (VRP). In each interval of one semitone and one decibel, narrowband spectra were averaged both within and across subjects. The subjects were groups of 7 male and 12 female singing students, as well as a group of 16 untrained female voices. For each individual and also for each group, pairs of VRP recordings were made, with stringent separation of the modal/chest and falsetto/head registers. Maps are presented of eight scalar metrics, each of which was chosen to quantify a particular feature of the voice spectrum, over fundamental frequency and SPL. Metrics 1 and 2 chart the role of the fundamental in relation to the rest of the spectrum. Metrics 3 and 4 are used to explore the role of resonances in relation to SPL. Metrics 5 and 6 address the distribution of high frequency energy, while metrics 7 and 8 seek to describe the distribution of energy at the low end of the voice spectrum.Several examples are observed of phenomena that are difficult to predict from linear source-filter theory, and of the voice source being less uniform over the voice range than is conventionally assumed. These include a high-frequency band-limiting at high SPL and an unexpected persistence of the second harmonic at low SPL. The two voice registers give rise to clearly different maps. Only a few effects of training were observed, in the low frequency end below 2 kHz. The results are of potential interest in voice analysis, voice synthesis and for new insights into the voice production mechanism.
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- Pabon, Peter, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Fourier Descriptor Analysis and Unification of Voice Range Profile Contours : Method and Applications
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. - : American Speech Language Hearing Association. - 1092-4388 .- 1558-9102. ; 54:3, s. 755-776
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: To describe a method for unified description, statistical modeling, and comparison of voice range profile (VRP) contours, even from diverse sources. Method: A morphologic modeling technique, which is based on Fourier descriptors (FDs), is applied to the VRP contour. The technique, which essentially involves resampling of the curve of the contour, is assessed and also is compared to density-based VRP averaging methods that use the overlap count. Results: VRP contours can be usefully described and compared using FDs. The method also permits the visualization of the local covariation along the contour average. For example, the FD-based analysis shows that the population variance for ensembles of VRP contours is usually smallest at the upper left part of the VRP. To illustrate the method's advantages and possible further application, graphs are given that compare the averaged contours from different authors and recording devices-for normal, trained, and untrained male and female voices as well as for child voices. Conclusions: The proposed technique allows any VRP shape to be brought to the same uniform base. On this uniform base, VRP contours or contour elements coming from a variety of sources may be placed within the same graph for comparison and for statistical analysis.
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7. |
- Pabon, Peter, et al.
(författare)
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Future Perspectives
- 2017
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Ingår i: Oxford Handbook of Singing. - : Oxford University Press. - 9780199660773
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter, through examining several emerging or continuing areas of research, serves to look ahead at possible ways in which humans, with the help of technology, may interact with each other vocally as well as musically. Some of the topic areas, such the use of the Voice Range Profile, hearing modeling spectrography, voice synthesis, distance masterclasses, and virtual acoustics, have obvious pedagogical uses in the training of singers. Others, such as the use of 3D printed vocal tracts and computer music composition involving the voice, may lead to unique new ways in which singing may be used in musical performance. Each section of the chapter is written by an expert in the field who explains the technology in question and how it is used, often drawing upon recent research led by the chapter authors.
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8. |
- Pabon, Peter, 1956-
(författare)
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Mapping Individual Voice Quality over the Voice Range : The Measurement Paradigm of the Voice Range Profile
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The acoustic signal of voiced sounds has two primary attributes: fundamental frequency and sound level. It has also very many secondary attributes, or ‘voice qualities’, that can be derived from the acoustic signal, in particular from its periodicity and its spectrum. Acoustic voice analysis as a discipline is largely concerned with identifying and quantifying those qualities or parameters that are relevant for assessing the health or training status of a voice or that characterize the individual quality. The thesis presented here is that all such voice qualities covary essentially and individually with the fundamental frequency and the sound level, and that methods for assessing the voice must account for this covariation and individuality. The central interest in the "voice field" measurement paradigm becomes to map the proportional dependencies that exist between voice parameters. The five studies contribute to ways of doing this in practice, while the framework text presents the theoretical basis for the analysis model in relation to the practical principles.
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9. |
- Szabo, Annika, 1972-, et al.
(författare)
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Vocal Behavior in Environmental Noise : Comparisons Between Work and Leisure Conditions in Women With Work-related Voice Disorders and Matched Controls
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Voice. - : Elsevier. - 0892-1997 .- 1873-4588. ; 32:1, s. 126.e23-126.e38
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: This study aimed to assess vocal behavior in women with voice-intensive occupations to investigate differences between patients and controls and between work and leisure conditions with environmental noise level as an experimental factor. Methods: Patients with work-related voice disorders, 10 with phonasthenia and 10 with vocal nodules, were matched regarding age, profession, and workplace with 20 vocally healthy colleagues. The sound pressure level of environmental noise and the speakers’ voice, fundamental frequency, and phonation ratio were registered from morning to night during 1 week with a voice accumulator. Voice data were assessed in low (â€55 dBA), moderate, and high (\textgreater70 dBA) environmental noise levels. Results: The average environmental noise level was significantly higher during the work condition for patients with vocal nodules (73.9 dBA) and their controls (73.0 dBA) compared with patients with phonasthenia (68.3 dBA) and their controls (67.1 dBA). The average voice level and the fundamental frequency were also significantly higher during work for the patients with vocal nodules and their controls. During the leisure condition, there were no significant differences in average noise and voice level nor fundamental frequency between the groups. The patients with vocal nodules and their controls spent significantly more time and used their voices significantly more in highâenvironmental noise levels. Conclusions: High noise levels during work and demands from the occupation impact vocal behavior. Thus, assessment of voice ergonomics should be part of the work environmental management. To reduce environmental noise levels is important to improve voice ergonomic conditions in communication-intensive and vocally demanding workplaces.
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10. |
- Ternström, Sten, 1956-, et al.
(författare)
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Accounting for variability over the voice range
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the ICA 2019 and EAA Euroregio. - Aachen, DE : Deutsche Gesellschaft für Akustik (DEGA e.V.). - 9783939296157 ; , s. 7775-7780
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Researchers from the natural sciences interested in the performing arts often seek quantitative findings with explanatory power and practical relevance to performers and educators. However, the complexity of singing voice production continues to challenge us. On their own, entities that are readily measurable in the domain of physics are rarely of direct relevance to excellence in the domain of performance; because information on one level of representation (e.g., acoustic) is artistically meaningful mostly when interpreted in a context at a higher level of representation (e.g., emotional or semantic). Also, practically any acoustic or physiologic metric derived from the sound of a voice, or from other signals or images, will exhibit considerable variation both across individuals and across the voice range, from soft to loud or from low to high pitch. Here, we review some recent research based on the sampling paradigm of the voice field, also known as the voice range profile. Despite large inter-subject variation, the localizing by fo and SPL in the voice field will make the recorded values very reproducible within subjects. We demonstrate some technical possibilities, and argue the importance of making physical measurements that provide a more encompassing and individual-centric view of singing voice production.
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