H-Index: a new measure of glottal efficiency for the pathologic voice.
Taking advantage of the extended dynamic range of digital analysis of voice the H-Index represents the first proposed acoustical measure of glottal efficiency. "Hi" /hai/ was chosen to evaluate glottal efficiency since it provides an excellent test of glottal transformation from voiceless to voiced sound energy, the upper vocal tract having a neutral effect. Fifteen individuals with normal voices and 30 patients with hoarse voices were asked to say "hi." The power ratio of /h/ to /a/ was calculated from peak power of each measure from the power envelope. Voice quality had a highly significant effect on measured values (P < .001). A high degree of correlation (P < .001) was found with the AC/DC ratio, a standard aerodynamic measure of glottal efficiency. The results indicate that the H-Index represents an excellent measure of glottal efficiency, obviating the need of invasive techniques or expensive, highly specialized equipment.
Shoji
K
K
Ames Vocal Dynamics Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY 10021.
Regenbogen
E
E
Yu
J D
JD
Blaugrund
S M
SM
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005931:Glottis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006685:Hoarseness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics