This paper deals with the influence of ambient speech on individual speech productions. A methodological framework is defined to gather the experimental data necessary to feed computer models simulating self-organisation in phonological systems. Two experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 was run on French native speakers from two regiolects of Belgium: two from Liège and two from Brussels. When exposed to the way of speaking of the other regiolect via loudspeakers, the speakers of one regiolect produced vowels that were significantly different from their typical realisations, and significantly closer to the way of speaking specific of the other regiolect. Experiment 2 achieved a replication of the results for 8 Mons speakers hearing a Liège speaker. A significant part of the imitative effect remained up to 10 min after the end of the exposure to the other regiolect productions. As a whole, the results suggest that: (i) imitation occurs automatically and unintentionally, (ii) the modified realisations leave a memory trace, in which case the mechanism may be better defined as ‘mimesis’ than as ‘imitation’. The potential effects of multiple imitative speech interactions on sound change are discussed in this paper, as well as the implications for a general theory of phonetic implementation and phonetic representation.

Voice quality improved in a manner similar to both signs and symptoms throughout a 6-month empirical treatment with better improvement the 3 first months. Voice quality assessments can be used as indicators of treatment effectiveness in patients with LPR-related symptoms.

The objective is to assess the differences in the severity of symptoms, signs, voice quality, and quality of life before and after treatment according to age in suspected laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) patients. The design used in this paper is prospective multi-center study. Eighty clinically diagnosed LPR patients with a reflux finding score (RFS) >7 and a reflux symptom index (RSI) >13 were treated with pantoprazole and diet recommendations for 3 months. Patients were subdivided into three groups according their age: group 1 (18-39 years, N = 21), group 2 (40-59 years, N = 31), and group 3 (≥60 years, N = 28). RSI, RFS, Voice Handicap Index (VHI), Short Form 36 questionnaire (SF36), aerodynamic, and acoustic measurements were evaluated at baseline and after treatment. The response to the empiric treatment was also assessed. Significant improvements in RSI, RFS, and VHI were found in all patient groups. The elderly patients showed a significantly lower RSI score than younger subjects (p = 0.035) without RFS difference among groups. At baseline, the SF36 score was better in group 3 with respect to social functioning (p = 0.049). At the 3-month follow-up, we found significant improvement of acoustic parameters only in the younger age groups (group 1 and group 2). The rate of resistant patients to the empiric treatment was higher in the younger group than in the elderly patient group (42.9 versus 28.6%). Age appears to reduce the subjective LPR symptom perception, leading to a lower rate of uncured patients. The utilization of acoustic parameters as an indicator of treatment effectiveness seems less useful for elderly subjects, probably due to an overlap between an aging voice and LPR.

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BackgroundLaryngopharyngeal reflux is a prevalent, not well-understood disease affecting a high proportion of patients who seek laryngology consultation. The objective of this prospective case series is to explore the subjective and objective voice modifications in Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR), especially the usefulness of acoustic parameters as treatment outcomes, and to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of voice disorder.MethodsForty-one patients with a reflux finding score (RFS) > 7 and a reflux symptom index (RSI) > 13 were enrolled and treated with pantoprazole 20 mg twice daily for three months. RSI, RFS, Voice Handicap Index (VHI), and Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain and Instability (GRBASI) were assessed at baseline and after three months post-therapy. Acoustic parameters were measured by selecting the most stable interval of the vowel /a/. A study of correlations between acoustic measurements and laryngoscopic signs was conducted in patients with roughness. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).ResultsSignificant improvement in RSI, RFS, VHI, jitter, percent jitter, relative average perturbation (RAP), shimmer, percent shimmer, and amplitude perturbation quotient (APQ) was found at 3 months of treatment (p < .05). A correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between the grade of dysphonia, breathiness, asthenia, instability and jitter, percent jitter, RAP, shimmer, percent shimmer and APQ. In dividing our cohort into two groups of patients according to the presence of roughness, shimmer, percent shimmer and APQ significantly improved in patients with roughness, but no positive correlation was found between acoustic parameters and laryngoscopic signs.ConclusionAcoustic parameters can help to better understand voice disorders in LPR and can be used as treatment outcomes in patients with roughness.