title: The phonatory deviation diagram: a novel objective measurement of vocal function.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify the discriminative characteristics of the phonatory deviation diagram (PDD) in rough, breathy and tense voices.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and ninety-six samples of normal and dysphonic voices from adults were submitted to perceptual auditory evaluation, focusing on the predominant vocal quality and the degree of deviation. Acoustic analysis was performed with the VoxMetria (CTS Informatica).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences were observed between the dysphonic and normal groups (p < 0.001), and also between the breathy and rough samples (p = 0.044) and the breathy and tense samples (p < 0.001). All normal voices were positioned in the inferior left quadrant, 45% of the rough voices in the inferior right quadrant, 52.6% of the breathy voices in the superior right quadrant and 54.3% of the tense voices in the inferior left quadrant of the PDD. In the inferior left quadrant, 93.8% of voices with no deviation were located and 72.7% of voices with mild deviation; voices with moderate deviation were distributed in the inferior and superior right quadrants, the latter ones containing the most deviant voices and 80% of voices with severe deviation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PDD was able to discriminate normal from dysphonic voices, and the distribution was related to the type and degree of voice alteration.
authors.affiliation: Human Communication Disorders Department, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. glaumadazio@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Glaucya
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Madazio
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.forename: Mara
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Behlau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001307:Auditory Perception; D003626:Data Display; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014833:Voice Quality