Objective estimation of tracheoesophageal speech ratings using an auditory model.
Total laryngectomy is often the treatment of choice for many individuals diagnosed with advanced laryngeal cancer. This procedure alters the normal voice production mechanism, and tracheoesophageal (TE) speech is one alternative method of voicing postlaryngectomy. TE speech is created when pulmonary air is passed through the upper esophagus to create a vibratory source that is then articulated into speech. TE speech is often characterized by abnormal voice quality. Acoustic analysis of TE speech has the potential of quantifying the voice quality and assisting the speech language pathologist in facilitating rehabilitation. Motivated in part by the recent advances in telecommunication industry for speech quality estimation, this paper investigated the application of an auditory model in predicting the ratings of TE speech by normal hearing listeners. The Moore-Glasberg auditory model was employed to extract perceptually relevant features from the acoustic waveform, and these features were later combined to estimate the subjective ratings of TE speech. This approach was validated with a database of subjective ratings of speech samples recorded from 35 TE speakers. Results showed moderate correlations between the objective metrics and the subjective ratings, and these correlations were significantly better than those obtained with traditional methods used in the telecommunication applications.
McDonald
Robert
R
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and National Centre for Audiology, University of Western Ontario, London, N6A 4B8 Ontario, Canada.
Parsa
Vijay
V
Doyle
Philip C
PC
D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D049250:Speech Recognition Software; D013071:Speech, Alaryngeal / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors