Toward standardizing perceptual voice quality measures

描述(由申请人提供)：对病理性嗓音质量的感知在临床嗓音评估中至关重要，但对人的嗓音进行充分量化仍然是个问题。前一次筹资期间完成的研究数据表明，与目前的语音质量测量相关的许多困难源于定义和测量质量的方式。我们建议开发一个总体语音质量的心理声学模型，作为传统评级和声学分析协议的替代方案。这个心理声学模型将指定一组感知上重要的声学参数，这些参数组合在一起以复制并因此量化语音的整体、整体质量。我们将首先确定产生任何声音的合成副本所需的最小声学参数集，以便听众判断合成副本与原始语音的质量相匹配。该集合将构成声音质量的初步心理声学模型。然后，我们将通过仅使用这些模型参数合成自然声音的副本来改进和验证这个心理声学模型。只要听者判断自然符号和合成符号完全匹配，心理声学模型就会被认为是有效的。将分析不匹配，以确定应向模型添加或从模型中减去哪些参数。我们将评估声学价值的变化和声音偏离正常程度的变化之间的关系。这将提供一个说明性模型，指定声学参数如何组合和感知地相互作用，以确定任何声音样本在从“更好”到“更差”的连续统中的位置。最后，我们将研究重要的声学和频谱变化与声门结构的相关变化之间的联系。这些知识可以确定治疗的目标，这些目标在治疗期间产生声音改善的可能性最高。 公共卫生相关性：嗓音质量的测量是嗓音障碍患者管理中最关心的问题，但现有收集此类测量的程序仍然存在可靠性和有效性问题。这项拟议的研究将建立一种有效、可靠、理论上有动机的替代方案，以取代目前的语音质量测量系统。通过使用验证性方法建立声学变量和感知语音质量之间的因果关系，拟议的研究将增强我们对语音信号及其引起的感知响应之间关系的理解，从而产生一个标准化的、感知验证的、临床使用的客观方案。此外，这些措施将使我们能够产生和测试关于声门结构变化的初步假设，这些变化导致声学上重要的知觉变化，从而提供一些将知觉与产生联系起来的第一批实验证据。通过建立生理学、声学和知觉之间的联系，这项研究可能会极大地促进临床实践。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Perception of pathological voice quality is centrally important in clinical voice evaluation, but adequately quantifying the sound of a person's voice remains problematic. Data from studies completed during the previous funding period indicate that many difficulties associated with current measures of voice quality derive from the way in which quality is defined and measured. We propose the development of a psychoacoustic model of overall voice quality as an alternative to traditional ratings and acoustic analysis protocols. This psychoacoustic model will specify a set of perceptually-important acoustic parameters that combine to replicate and thereby quantify the overall, integral quality of a voice. We will first determine the minimal set of acoustic parameters required to produce a synthetic copy of any voice, such that listeners judge that the synthetic copy matches the quality of the original voice. This set will constitute a preliminary psychoacoustic model of voice quality. We will then refine and validate this psychoacoustic model by synthesizing copies of natural voices using only these model parameters. To the extent that listeners judge that the natural and synthetic tokens match exactly, the psychoacoustic model will be considered valid. Mismatches will be analyzed to determine what parameters should be added to or subtracted from the model. We will assess the relationship between changes in acoustic values and changes in the extent to which a voice deviates from normal. This will provide an explanatory model specifying how acoustic parameters combine and interact perceptually to determine the location of any voice sample along a continuum from "better" to "worse." Finally, we will investigate the link between perceptually-important acoustic, spectral changes and the associated alterations in glottal configuration. Such knowledge could identify targets for remediation that have the highest likelihood of producing vocal improvement during treatment. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Measurement of voice quality is a prime concern in management of patients with voice disorders, but problems of reliability and validity persist for existing procedures for gathering such measures. The proposed research will establish a valid, reliable, theoretically-motivated alternative to current systems for measuring voice quality. By using confirmatory methods to establish causal links between acoustic variables and perceived voice quality, the proposed studies will enhance our understanding of the relationship between a voice signal and the perceptual response it evokes, leading to a standardized, perceptually-validated, objective protocol for clinical use. Further, these measures will enable us to generate and test preliminary hypotheses regarding the changes in glottal configuration that cause perceptually-important changes in vocal acoustics, thus providing some of the first experimental evidence linking perception to production. By establishing links among physiology, acoustics, and perception, this research may significantly advance clinical practice.