Voice disorders caused by physical injury, voice misuse, physiological disease, and surgery represent a significant social cost, resulting in severe functional and psychological limitations on the lives of millions of Americans. Acoustic analysis represents a promising tool for clinical assessment of voice disorders; however, it has not been widely applied outside of research despite its low cost, objectivity, and non-invasive nature. The intrinsic complexity of voice production and aperiodicity of disordered voice necessitates that acoustic analysis be nonlinear. Current nonlinear parameters are capable of quantifying both normal and disordered phonation; however, existing nonlinear methods fail to comprehensively describe the non-stationary, dynamic elements comprising voice signals. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to expand the utility of nonlinear dynamic analysis in clinical practice as an objective means for detecting vocal dysfunction and monitoring voice rehabilitation following treatment intervention.
In Aim 1, excised larynx models will be employed to simulate and investigate physiological conditions contributing to breathy and rough phonation, including extreme subglottal pressures, vocal fold elongation, asymmetrical tension, and benign mass lesions. Diffusive chaos and intrinsic dimension nonlinear analysis will be implemented to evaluate the four different type components present in the corresponding acoustical output and to subsequently construct voice type component profiles (VTCP). Quantitatively describing the VTCP will provide more descriptive information pertaining to the physiological location and conditions underlying pathological phonation.
Aim 2 will focus on applying VTCP nonlinear analysis to normal and disordered patients in a variety of voice tasks, such as vowel and consonant utterances and connected speech, and assessment of clinical treatment interventions, including surgical treatment of benign mass lesions and vocal fold paralysis and rehabilitative voice training for esophageal and tracheoesophageal speech. To facilitate wider and more extensive utility of nonlinear dynamic analyses, we will assess the concurrent validity of the VTCPs with the clinically established technique of auditory-perceptual assessment of voice quality. The likely impact of this research is that innovative methods of diffusive chaos and intrinsic dimension nonlinear analysis will provide significant improvements over previous acoustical parameters in both computationally efficiency and voice quality description. Moreover, acoustical analysis of disordered phonation in excised larynges will provide a physical model to examine the physiological and biomechanical conditions underlying pathologic voice production, which remains poorly understood. Lastly, the clinical utility of VTCP analysis as a diagnostic tool for voice disorder detection will be demonstrated.

Public Health Relevance

Laryngeal disorders adversely affect millions of Americans and not only significantly impact patients' quality of life, but also represent a substantial economic and social burden. Acoustic analysis represents an inexpensive, noninvasive approach to systematically and quantitatively assess the severity of voice disorders; however, current acoustic analysis parameters are incapable of quantifying the dynamic and non-stationary components that comprise a voice signal. We propose the development of nonlinear dynamic analysis methodology that is proficient in comprehensively describing the voice type component profile, leading to improved assessment and treatment monitoring for patients suffering from voice disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01DC006019-11
Application #
9739830
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Shekim, Lana O
Project Start
2003-06-01
Project End
2024-04-30
Budget Start
2019-05-01
Budget End
2020-04-30
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Surgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Liu, Boquan; Polce, Evan; Sprott, Julien C et al. (2018) Applied Chaos Level Test for Validation of Signal Conditions Underlying Optimal Performance of Voice Classification Methods. J Speech Lang Hear Res 61:1130-1139
Luo, Rong; Kong, Weijia; Wei, Xin et al. (2018) Development of Excised Larynx. J Voice :
Xue, Chao; Pulvermacher, Allyson; Calawerts, William et al. (2017) An Excised Canine Model of Anterior Glottic Web and Its Acoustic, Aerodynamic, and High-speed Measurements. J Voice 31:246.e21-246.e32
Calawerts, William M; Lin, Liyu; Sprott, J C et al. (2017) Using Rate of Divergence as an Objective Measure to Differentiate between Voice Signal Types Based on the Amount of Disorder in the Signal. J Voice 31:16-23
Lin, Liyu; Calawerts, William; Dodd, Keith et al. (2016) An Objective Parameter for Quantifying the Turbulent Noise Portion of Voice Signals. J Voice 30:664-669
Choi, Seong Hee; Zhang, Yu; Jiang, Jack J et al. (2012) Nonlinear dynamic-based analysis of severe dysphonia in patients with vocal fold scar and sulcus vocalis. J Voice 26:566-76
Chai, Lingying; Sprecher, Alicia J; Zhang, Yi et al. (2011) Perturbation and nonlinear dynamic analysis of adult male smokers. J Voice 25:342-7
Maccallum, Julia K; Zhang, Yu; Jiang, Jack J (2011) Vowel selection and its effects on perturbation and nonlinear dynamic measures. Folia Phoniatr Logop 63:88-97
Sprecher, Alicia; Olszewski, Aleksandra; Jiang, Jack J et al. (2010) Updating signal typing in voice: addition of type 4 signals. J Acoust Soc Am 127:3710-16
Shao, Jun; MacCallum, Julia K; Zhang, Yu et al. (2010) Acoustic analysis of the tremulous voice: assessing the utility of the correlation dimension and perturbation parameters. J Commun Disord 43:35-44

Showing the most recent 10 out of 53 publications