Listener perception of respiratory-induced voice tremor.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the relation of respiratory oscillation to the perception of voice tremor.


METHODS
Forced oscillation of the respiratory system was used to simulate variations in alveolar pressure such as are characteristic of voice tremor of respiratory origin. Five healthy men served as speakers, and 6 clinically experienced women served as listeners. Speakers produced utterances while forced sinusoidal pressure changes were applied to the surface of the respiratory system. Utterances included vowels and sentences produced using usual loudness, pitch, quality, and rate, and vowels produced using different loudness, pitch, and quality. Perceptual tasks included detection threshold for voice tremor and pair comparison judgments in which listeners identified the sample with the greater magnitude of voice tremor.


RESULTS
The mean detection threshold for voice tremor was 1.37 cmH(2)O (SD = 0.47) for vowel utterances and 2.16 cmH(2)O (SD = 1.52) for sentence utterances. Tremor magnitude was judged to be different for vowel and sentence utterances, but not for different vowels. Results revealed differential effects for loudness, pitch, and quality.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings offer implications for the evaluation and management of voice tremor of respiratory causation.
University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. kaf@u.arizona.edu
Kimberly A
KA
Farinella
Thomas J
TJ
Hixon
Jeannette D
JD
Hoit
Brad H
BH
Story
Patricia A
PA
Jones
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000403:Airway Resistance; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011312:Pressure; D012119:Respiration; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014202:Tremor; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000523:psychology*