Respiratory physiology during reading aloud tasks / Fisiología de la respiración en las tareas de lectura en voz alta / Fisiologia respiratória durante tarefas de leitura em voz alta

The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between speech utterance length and respiratory physiology. This experiment correlates respiratory kinematics, muscle activity and acoustic temporal measures of two utterance lengths read aloud tasks: phrase and sentence. Methods: 4 normal speakers read aloud 12 read phrases and 12 read sentences. Respiratory kinematics measures included lung volume excursion (LVE), rib cage excursion (RCE) and abdomen excursion (ABE). Respiratory muscle action included burst duration (BD) and peak amplitude (PA) of rectus abdominis (RA), pectoralis major (PM) and external oblique (EO) muscles. Acoustic temporal measures included phrase and sentence duration. For descriptive statistics means and standard deviations were used, and for inferential statistics Pearson correlation coefficient and Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test were used. Results: All sentence mean values were greater than phrase and significance was achieved on duration, LVE and RCE means (p=.00). There was a positive correlation between duration, RCE and LVE measures (p=.00). There was a positive correlation between RCE and PA of PM and EO muscles (p=.00). Conclusions: To produce longer utterance tasks, RCE contributes greatly for the LVE needs. The RCE excursions are mostly supported by greater voluntary peak contractions of the PA and EO muscles rather than RA muscles.

Objetivo: O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar a relação entre a duração da produção de fala e a fisiologia respiratória. Este estudo correlaciona a cinemática respiratória, a atividade muscular e a medida acústico-temporal de duas tarefas fonatórias de leitura-em-voz-alta de diferentes durações: oração e frase. Métodos: 4 normofalantes leram em voz alta 12 orações e 12 frases. Medidas cinemáticas respiratórias incluíram expansão do volume pulmonar (EVP), expansão da caixa torácica (ECT) e expansão do abdómen (EAB). A ação muscular respiratória incluiu a duração da contração (DC) e pico de amplitude da contração (AP) dos músculos reto abdominal (RA), peitoral maior (PM) e oblíquo externo (OE). Medidas acústicotemporais incluíram duração da oração e da frase. Para uma estatística descritiva foram utilizadas médias e desvios-padrão. Para a estatística inferencial foi utilizado o coeficiente de correlação de Pearson e o teste de Mann-WhitneyWilcoxon. Resultados: Todas as médias das medidas da frase foram maiores do que das orações, sendo que as médias de duração, EVP e ECT atingiram significância (p=.00). As medidas de EVP e ECT correlacionaram-se positivamente (p=.00). As medidas de ECT correlacionaramse positivamente com PA dos músculos PM e OE (p=.00). Conclusão: As tarefas fonatórias mais longas apresentaram maiores amplitudes de EVP e com maiores contribuições de ECT, comparativamente com as de EAB. Por último, as amplitudes de ECT foram suportadas pelos músculos PA e OE, que apresentaram contrações significativamente mais longas e intensas, comparativamente com o RA.

Objetivo: Se buscó determinar la relación entre la duración de producción del habla y la fisiología respiratoria. Este estudio correlaciona la cinemática de la respiración, la actividad muscular y la medida acústico temporal de dos tareas de fonación de lectura en voz alta: oración y frase. Métodos: Cuatro hablantes normales leyeron doce frases y doce oraciones. Las medidas cinemáticas respiratorias incluían: expansión de volumen pulmonar (EVP), expansión de caja torácica (ECT) y expansión de abdomen (EAB). La acción de los músculos respiratorios incluyó la duración de la contracción (DC) y el pico de amplitud de la contracción (AP) de los músculos del recto abdominal (RA), los pectorales mayores (PM) y el oblicuo externo (OE). Las medidas acústico temporales incluyeron la duración de la oración y de la frase. Para la estadística descriptiva se utilizó desviaciones media y estándar, y para la inferencial se usó el coeficiente de correlación de Pearson y la prueba de Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon. Resultados: Todos los valores medios de las frases fueron mayores que los de las oraciones; las medias de duración EVP y ECT alcanzaron significancia (p = .00). Las medidas de ECT se correlacionaron positivamente con el AP de los músculos PM y OE (p = .00). Conclusión: Las tareas de fonación más largas presentaron mayores amplitudes EVP y mayores contribuciones de ECT, comparado a la EAB. Finalmente, las amplitudes de ECT fueron soportadas por los músculos de AP y OE, que presentaron contracciones significativamente más largas e intensas, comparados con los músculos del RA.

Noise and tremor in the perception of vocal aging in males.

OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS: To specify a set of acoustic cues for vocal aging and to establish their perceptual relevance. STUDY DESIGN: Perceptual testing. METHODS: To identify the acoustic and perceptual correlates of the aging voice, voice quality [in conjunction with speaking rate and fundamental frequency (F(0))] was systematically manipulated using resynthesis to determine its effect on perceived age. Ten young male voices were resynthesized using two levels of noise (random modulation of F(0) contour) and two levels of tremor (constant modulation of F(0) contour with a low-amplitude wave) under a speaking-rate manipulation (an increase in speaking rate that is common to older male voices). These materials were submitted to 40 naive listeners in an age-estimation task. Two sets of comparison materials were also included for evaluation: unmanipulated samples from a 150 voice database of young, middle-aged, and older voices and disordered voice samples representing natural manifestations of the voice qualities of interest. RESULTS: Speaking rate, highest degree of tremor, and highest degree of noise all shifted, in an additive manner, the mean perceived age of the young male voices by a maximum of 12 years on average; individual voices were observed being shifted by a generation. Fundamental frequency manipulations had no significant effect on perceived age. CONCLUSIONS: Voice quality (both tremor and noise) and speaking rate are all perceptually relevant cues of age in male voices.

Speaking rate and fundamental frequency as speech cues to perceived age.

This study aimed to specify a set of acoustic cues fundamental to vocal aging and to establish their perceptual relevance, using acoustic analysis and perceptual testing. Three experiments were conducted to identify the perceptual correlates of the aging voice. The first experiment analyzed important voice parameters that signal a person's age for 16 older males and 14 younger males. In the second and third experiments, these acoustic patterns were systematically shifted through resynthesis to see if perceived age would be significantly influenced. In the second experiment, the older and younger male voices were resynthesized by manipulating speaking rate and fundamental frequency to shift the perceived age of the groups toward each other. In the third experiment, older and middle-aged male voices were resynthesized in a similar manner. In both perceptual studies, an age estimation task with naive listeners was used. The results of the first experiment showed that, in older speakers, sentence, word, and diphthong durations were all significantly longer and mean fundamental frequency was significantly higher than for the younger group. In the second experiment, only the manipulation of speaking rate resulted in a significant shift in perceived age, and it did so only for the older subjects. In the third experiment, a significant shift in age estimates was observed for the middle-aged, but not the older, voices when speaking rate was manipulated. The results of both perception tests suggest that speaking rate, but possibly not fundamental frequency, is a perceptually relevant cue to age in voice.

Effects of vocal training on respiratory kinematics during singing tasks.

This longitudinal study determined the effects of vocal training (VT) on respiratory kinematics and muscle activity during singing tasks. Four voice students, 3 females and 1 male, were recorded during singing tasks once a semester for 3 consecutive semesters. Respiratory kinematic measures included lung volume, rib cage (RCE) and abdominal excursions (ABE). Surface electromyographic measures included burst duration (BD) and peak amplitude (PA) of the pectoralis major, rectus abdominis and external oblique muscles. Descriptive statistics revealed that RCE and ABE increased from the 1st to the 2nd semester, but decreased from the 2nd to the 3rd semester of VT. Overall, mean BD decreased from the 1st to the 2nd semester and increased from the 2nd to the 3rd semester. Mean PA increased from the 1st to the 2nd semester and decreased from the 2nd to the 3rd semester of VT. RCE and muscle force generation of the above muscles increased as the demand level and the length of the phonatory tasks increased. Interpretation of the results suggests that the respiratory system is highly responsive to VT, after only 3 semesters of training.

Effects of singing training on the speaking voice of voice majors.

This longitudinal study gathered data with regard to the question: Does singing training have an effect on the speaking voice? Fourteen voice majors (12 females and two males; age range 17 to 20 years) were recorded once a semester for four consecutive semesters, while sustaining vowels and reading the "Rainbow Passage." Acoustic measures included speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and sound pressure level (SLP). Perturbation measures included jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-to-noise ratio. Temporal measures included sentence, consonant, and diphthong durations. Results revealed that, as the number of semesters increased, the SFF increased while jitter and shimmer slightly decreased. Repeated measure analysis, however, indicated that none of the acoustic, temporal, or perturbation differences were statistically significant. These results confirm earlier cross-sectional studies that compared singers with nonsingers, in that singing training mostly affects the singing voice and rarely the speaking voice.

Predictors of transfusion requirements for cardiac surgical procedures at a blood conservation center.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies defining perioperative risk factors for allogeneic transfusion requirements in cardiac surgery were limited to highly selected cardiac surgery populations or were associated with high transfusion rates. The purpose of this study was to determine perioperative risk factors and create a formula to predict transfusion requirements for major cardiac surgical procedures in a center that practices a multimodality approach to blood conservation. METHODS: We performed an observational study on 307 consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, valve, and combined (coronary artery bypass grafting and valve) procedures. An equation was derived to estimate the risk of transfusion based on preoperative risk factors using multivariate analysis. In patients with a calculated probability of transfusion of at least 5%, intraoperative predictors of transfusion were identified by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-five patients (11%) required intraoperative or postoperative allogeneic transfusions. Preoperative factors as independent predictors for transfusions included red blood cell mass, type of operation, urgency of operation, number of diseased vessels, serum creatinine of at least 1.3 mg/dL, and preoperative prothrombin time. Intraoperative factors included cardiopulmonary bypass time, three or fewer bypass grafts, lesser volume of acute normovolemic hemodilution removed, and total crystalloid infusion of at least 2,500 mL. The derived formula was applied to a validation cohort of 246 patients, and the observed transfusion rates conformed well to the predicted risks. CONCLUSIONS: A multimodality approach to blood conservation in cardiac surgery resulted in a low transfusion rate. Identifying patients' risks for transfusion should alter patient management perioperatively to decrease their transfusion rate and make more efficient use of blood resources.

Acoustical comparison between samples of good and poor vibrato in singers.

The purpose of this research was to analyze samples of frequency vibrato taken from recordings of eight different singers, which were classified as examples of good or poor singing. The samples were analyzed by a software package, which makes use of the linear prediction coding (LPC) method to determine the time varying rate and extent of the frequency vibrato wave. Four parameters, which relate to the periodicity of the samples, were extracted from the time varying rate and extent and investigated in order to verify or reject the hypothesis that the best vibrato samples were the most symmetric ones. Ten samples per singer were analyzed, 5 good and 5 poor, for a total of 80 samples. The results show that the samples judged as good were the most periodic ones.

Effects of vocal training on the acoustic parameters of the singing voice.

Vocal training (VT) has, in part, been associated with the distinctions in the physiological, acoustic, and perceptual parameters found in singers' voices versus the voices of nonsingers. This study provides information on the changes in the singing voice as a function of VT over time. Fourteen college voice majors (12 females and 2 males; age range, 17-20 years) were recorded while singing, once a semester, for four consecutive semesters. Acoustic measures included fundamental frequency (F0) and sound pressure level (SPL) of the 10% and 90% levels of the maximum phonational frequency range (MPFR), vibrato pulses per second, vibrato amplitude variation, and the presence of the singer's formant. Results indicated that VT had a significant effect on the MPFR. F0 and SPL of the 90% level of the MPFR and the 90-10% range increased significantly as VT progressed. However, no vibrato or singers' formant differences were detected as a function of training. This longitudinal study not only validates previous cross-sectional research, ie, that VT has a significant effect on the singing voice, but also it demonstrates that these effects can be acoustically detected by the fourth semester of college vocal training.

Spectral changes due to performance environment in singers, nonsingers, and actors.

From postrecording interviews of professional singers, it was hypothesized that recording environments, i.e., sound-treated environment versus an auditorium, may induce different vocal behaviors. To test this hypothesis, three groups consisting of nonsingers, singers, and actors were recorded in two different recording environments: a sound-treated booth (IAC) and an auditorium (AUD). Three recordings were obtained from each participant: recording one (IAC) and two (AUD1) required the participants to read in a normal voice; recording three (AUD2) required participants to pretend that they were "performing" before a full house. Results indicated that only the singers and the actors exhibited significant spectral and/or frequency/duration differences from one recording environment to another, with the most dramatic differences exhibited by the singers. It was concluded that the environment in which we record experimental samples from professional voice users, especially singers, should be considered as a variable that can affect results.