title: A fractal approach to normal and pathological voices.
abstract: Using the box-counting method, we demonstrated recently that the stationary signal of vowels is not fractal, but provides the opportunity to design in the smallest scale a kind of signature for each vowel. This fractal approach to these components of speech allows us to quantify the roughness of the voice, between I (sinusoidal complex signal) and 2 (white noise). We used this method to compare these values in normal and pathological voices. We studied the speech of 10 normal speakers, 6 patients suffering from unilateral vocal fold palsy and 6 suffering from various other dysphonias. The meaning of this fractal measurement is discussed and compared with electroglottogram and spectrographic analysis.
authors.affiliation: ENT Research Laboratory, CHU St-Antoine, Paris, France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Péan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ouayoun
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fugain
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chouard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000601:surgery; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery