Table 2.
Attribute | Description | End points |
---|---|---|
Voice scaling experiment | ||
Overall voice quality | A general perceptual impression of an appropriate degree of melodiousness periodicity, and richness of the tonal components of the voice exhibited across the speech sample | Extremely good/Extremely poor |
Breathiness | Audible occurrence of breath noise or acoustic turbulence in the voice signal perceived either as “whispery” or “murmured” quality across the speech sample | Absent/Pervasive |
Roughness | Audible occurrence of acoustic aperiodicity in the voice signal perceived as either “harsh,” “gruff” or “strained-strangled” quality across the speech sample. | Absent/Pervasive |
Brokenness | Audible occurrence of the unexpected momentary absence of the voicing signal perceived as “gaps” or “cracks” in voicing across the speech sample | Absent/Pervasive |
Fluency scaling experiment | ||
Overall fluency | A general perceptual impression of the prompt, smooth, easy and continuous forward flow of speech exhibited across the sample. | Extremely good/Extremely poor |
Tension struggle | Perceived occurrence of audible effort, hesitation and straining to initiate or maintain the forward flow of speech across the sample. | Absent/Pervasive |
Disfluent syllables | Perceived occurrence of inappropriate syllables that are repeated, added, or prolonged within the ongoing flow of speech across the sample. | Absent/Pervasive |
Vocal spasms | Perceived occurrence of quavering, squeezing or stoppage of the voice sufficient to disrupt the ongoing flow of speech across the sample | Absent/Pervasive |
Reprinted with permission from Cannito MP, Woodson GE, Murry T, et al. 2004. Perceptual analyses of spasmodic dysphonia before and after treatment. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, 130:1393–9. Copyright © (2004), American Medical Association. All rights reserved.