Perception of Hoarseness by Several Classes of Listeners

Objective: To study the differences in perceptual ratings of mild and moderate dysphonia related to the speech task, and their impact on intrarater and interrater reliabilities. Patients and Methods: Voice recordings of 15 outpatients with mild or moderate dysphonia related to laryngopharyngeal reflux were presented to 6 female experienced judges blinded to the clinical state of the patients. From these, the GRBASI (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain, and Instability) evaluations were performed on connected speech and sustained vowel of the pretreatment voice recordings and absolute agreement, and both intrarater and interrater reliabilities were assessed. Results: The average GRBASI scores were significantly worse when performed on sustained vowel. Intrarater reliability substantially varied according to the judge and the task. Good interrater reliability was broadly found for the evaluations of all GRBASI components irrespective of the speech task. Concerning agreement, we only found absolute agreement between judges for G and R items assessed on text. Conclusion: Average grade of perceptual voice impairment, intrarater reliability, and agreement vary according to the speech task.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of the Speech Task Characteristics on Perceptual Judgment of Mild to Moderate Dysphonia: A Methodological Study

Lechien

Morsomme

Finck

et al. 2018

“…Regardless of skill, all raters have a sound conception of the normal voice from everyday experience. It has also been observed that the reliability of ratings increases with the degree of dysphonia [9,24]. This is logical since severe dysphonia corresponds to severe disease and is thus generally recognizable to all raters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…(2) Rater evaluation skill is an important factor for the reliability of perceptual voice analysis [3,4,[8][9][10]. Skilled listeners are more consistent and reliable than inexperienced listeners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation of Instrumental Voice Evaluation with Perceptual Voice Analysis Using a Modified Visual Analog Scale

Révis

Wuyts

et al. 2002

Various rating scales have been used for perceptual voice analysis including ordinal (ORD) scales and visual analog (VA) scales. The purpose of this study was to determine the most suitable scale for studies using perceptual voice analysis as a gold standard for validation of objective analysis protocols. The study was carried out on 74 female voice samples from 68 dysphonic patients and 6 controls. A panel of 4 raters with experience in perceptual analysis was asked to score voices according to the G component (overall quality) of the GRBAS system. Two rating scales were used. The first was a conventional 4-point ORD scale. The second was a modified VA (mVA) scale obtained by transforming the VA scale into an ORD scale using a weighted conversion scheme. Objective voice evaluation was performed using the EVA^® workstation. Objective measurements included acoustic, aerodynamic, and physiologic parameters as well as parameters based on nonlinear mathematics (e.g., Lyapunov coefficient). Instrumental measurements were compared with results of perceptual analysis using either the conventional ORD scale or mVA scale. Results demonstrate that correlation between perceptual and objective voice judgments is better using a mVA scale than a conventional ORD scale (concordance, 88 vs. 64%). Data also indicate that the mVA scale described herein improves the correlation between objective and perceptual voice analysis.

“…Jury qualifications have also been the focus of numerous articles in the literature. The general consensus is that experience is a key factor in obtaining reliable perceptual analysis [2,6,[7][8][9]. Kreiman et al [9] confirmed that trained listeners are more consistent than untrained listeners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Different Voice Samples for Perceptual Analysis

Révis¹,

Wuyts

Triglia³

1999

Choice of voice sample material can influence perceptual judgments by a jury. The twofold purpose of this study was first to validate the pertinence of a sustained vowel for perceptual voice analysis in French speakers and second to test the hypothesis that use of only the stabilized portion of the vowel would lead to underestimation of dysphonia. Voice samples were recorded in 60 dysphonic patients and 20 normal controls. Three different sample materials were obtained for each subject, i.e. connected speech, a sustained vowel including both the initial and stable portion (complete sustained vowel), and a sustained vowel including only the stable portion (stabilized sustained vowel). The jury was composed of 7 experienced listeners. Jury consistency was measured as a percentage of agreeing judgments for the same subject. No difference in consistency was observed using the three sample materials. Judgments on stabilized sustained vowels were confirmed as less severe than judgments on connected speech. Judgments on complete sustained vowels were comparable to judgments on connected speech.