Investigating the cepstral acoustic characteristics of voice in healthy children. 2021

Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Hacettepe University Faculty of Health Sciences, Hacettepe, Ankara, Turkey. Electronic address: ayse.tilki@hacettepe.edu.tr.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the cepstral acoustic parameters that vary depending on age and gender in vocally healthy children, and to establish normative data for cepstral analysis. BACKGROUND Cepstral measurements are among the strongest predictors of auditory-perceptual evaluation of voice and differentiate between healthy and dysphonic voices. More spesificially, ceptral peak prominence is accepted to be as a strong acoustic predictor of breathiness and overall severity of dysphonia. Cepstral measures determine voice quality reliably not only in sustained vowel samples but also in running speech samples. Determining the parameters related to the acoustic profile of children with normal voices can lead us to a better understanding of the effect of changes in the larynx and vocal fold structure during growth and development. There is a limited number of norm studies examining the cepstral acoustic properties of pediatric voice. Determining norm-specific values and clinical guidelines of cepstral acoustics according to the age and gender in vocally healthy children are utmost important. METHODS A total of 160 vocally healthy children were divided into the following four age groups: Group-I included children within the age range of 4-7 years, Group-II included 7-11 years, Group-III 11-14 years, and Group-IV included children within the age range of 14-18 years. An equal number of male and female participants were assigned to each group. PENTAX Medical CSL Model 4500 was used for recording all tasks. For acoustic analysis, Multi-Dimensional Voice Program and Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice were used. RESULTS Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP), Cepstral Peak Prominence Standard Deviation (CPP SD), and Low-To-High Spectral Ratio (L/H Ratio) increased with age. It is found that the CPP parameter of all-voiced sentences and nasal-weighted sentences increased with age in boys, while no significant pattern was observed in any sample for girls. For L/H ratio, it can be said that there is a general increase with age in all speech samples, except for the vowel-weighted and voiceless plosive sentence samples, evident especially in the group above the age of 15 years. This study concluded that the CPP SD parameter in the vowel-weighted sentences increased with age in boys. It was also noticed in this study that CPP F0 standard deviation (SD) intervals were narrower in vowel-weighted, easy onset, and voiceless plosive sentence samples than in all-voiced, hard glottal attack and nasal-weighted sentence samples. CONCLUSIONS This study established cepstral acoustic normative values for a wide age range of the pediatric population. It is thought that age and gender specific cepstral acoustic findings presented in this study contributed to the related literature. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first study that provides a normative cepstral acoustic database of the CAPE-V/Turkish sentences in the pediatric population.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D002675 Child, Preschool A child between the ages of 2 and 5. Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000162 Acoustics The branch of physics that deals with sound and sound waves. In medicine it is often applied in procedures in speech and hearing studies. With regard to the environment, it refers to the characteristics of a room, auditorium, theatre, building, etc. that determines the audibility or fidelity of sounds in it. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Acoustic
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D013061 Speech Acoustics The acoustic aspects of speech in terms of frequency, intensity, and time. Acoustics, Speech,Acoustic, Speech,Speech Acoustic
D013068 Speech Production Measurement Measurement of parameters of the speech product such as vocal tone, loudness, pitch, voice quality, articulation, resonance, phonation, phonetic structure and prosody. Measurement, Speech Production,Measurements, Speech Production,Production Measurement, Speech,Production Measurements, Speech,Speech Production Measurements
D014831 Voice The sounds produced by humans by the passage of air through the LARYNX and over the VOCAL CORDS, and then modified by the resonance organs, the NASOPHARYNX, and the MOUTH. Voices

Related Publications

Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
April 2024, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
August 2012, The Annals of otology, rhinology, and laryngology,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
January 2021, The journal of medical investigation : JMI,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
November 2015, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
November 2022, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
May 2020, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
December 2021, Current opinion in otolaryngology & head and neck surgery,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
November 2023, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
January 2016, Clinical linguistics & phonetics,
Ayşe Nur Demirci, and Ayşen Köse, and Fatma Esen Aydinli, and Önal İncebay, and Taner Yilmaz
November 2023, Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation,
Copied contents to your clipboard!