Spectral Aggregate of the High-Passed Fundamental Frequency and Its Relationship to the Primary Acoustic Features of Adductor Laryngeal Dystonia

• Published in: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research Vol. 65; no. 11; pp. 4085 - 4095
• Main Authors: Marks, Katherine L, Feaster, Taylor F, Baker, Sarah, Díaz-Cádiz, Manuel E, Doyle, Philip C, Stepp, Cara E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Speech-Language-Hearing Association 01-11-2022
• Subjects: Acoustics; Adults; Clinical Diagnosis; Dysphonia; Dystonia - diagnosis; Humans; Measures (Individuals); Phonation; Speech Acoustics; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Validity; Voice Disorders
• ISSN: 1092-4388; 1558-9102
• DOI: 10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00157

Objective: Currently, no clinically feasible objective measures exist that are specific to the signs of adductor laryngeal dystonia (LD), deterring effective diagnosis and treatment. This project sought to establish concurrent validity of a new automated acoustic outcome measure, designed to be specific to adductor laryngeal dystonia (AdLD): the spectral aggregate of the high-passed fundamental frequency contour (SAHfo). Method: Twenty speakers with AdLD read voiced phoneme-loaded (more symptomatic) and voiceless phoneme-loaded (less symptomatic) sentences. LD discontinuities (defined as phonatory breaks, frequency shifts, and creak), the acoustic ramifications of laryngeal spasms, were manually identified. The frequency content of the fo contour was examined as a function of time, and content above 1000 Hz was summed to automatically calculate SAHfo. Multiple linear regression analysis was applied to SAHfo based on LD discontinuities and sentence type (voiced or voiceless phoneme-loaded). Results: The regression model accounted for 41.1% of the variance in SAHfo. Both the LD discontinuities and sentence type were statistically related to SAHfo. Conclusion: Results of this study provide evidence of concurrent validity. SAHfo is an automatic outcome measure specific to acoustic signs of AdLD that may be useful to track treatment progress.