title: Acoustic features of voice in patients with severe hearing loss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the acoustic features of voice in patients with sensorineural hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty male patients, between 35 and 53 years of age with postlingual bilateral symmetric severe sensorineural hearing loss, were included (group A). As a control group (group B), 30 normal-hearing male adults, aged 38 to 51 years, were identified.
  
  
  METHODS
  ENT Department, University of Genoa (Italy).
  
  
  METHODS
  Phonetically balanced sentences and sustained vowels a, e, and i were digitally recorded with the Multidimensional Voice Program (Kay Elemetrics) in all subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  The parameters estimated were the average of fundamental frequency (F0), jitter percent (jitter), shimmer, noise to harmonics ratio (NHR), voice turbulence index (VTI), soft phonation index (SPI), degree of voicelessness (DUV), degree of voice breaks (DVB), and peak amplitude variation (vAm).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to the control group, in group A, the following acoustic parameters presented a statistically significantly higher value (p < .05) of F0 (137.2 Hz vs 120.0 Hz), jitter (1.93% vs 0.67%), shimmer (6.67% vs 3.81%), NHR (0.19 vs 0.10), SPI (12.9 vs 8.76), DVB (2.12% vs 0.01%), DUV (9.53% vs 0.51%), and vAm (23.12 % vs 12.06%). In group A, F0 was also significantly higher in the balanced sentences (126 Hz vs 111 Hz).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that hearing loss affects voice production by changing its parameters, especially in subjects with marked hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: ENT Department, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy. renzomora@libero.it
authors.forename: Renzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Crippa
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cervoni
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Santomauro
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guastini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010699:Phonation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014831:Voice / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality