Evaluation of vocal acoustic and efficiency analysis parameters in medical students and academic teachers with use of iris and diagnoscope specialist software.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare the parameters of vocal acoustic and vocal efficiency analyses in medical students and academic teachers with use of the IRIS and DiagnoScope Specialist software and to evaluate their usefulness in prevention and certification of occupational disease.


METHODS
The study group comprised 40 women, including students and employees of the Military Medical Faculty, Medical University of Łodź. After informed consent had been obtained from the participant women, the primary medical history was taken, videolaryngoscopic and stroboscopic examinations were performed and diagnostic vocal acoustic analysis was carried out with the use of the IRIS and Diagno-Scope Specialist software.


RESULTS
Based on the results of the performed measurements, the statistical analysis evidenced the compatibility between two software programs, IRIS and DiagnoScope Specialist, with the only exception of the F4 formant. The mean values of vocal acoustic parameters in medical students and academic teachers, obtained by means of the IRIS software, can be used as standards for the female population not yet developed by the producer. When using the DiagnoScope Specialist software, some mean values were higher and some lower than the standards specified by the producer.


CONCLUSIONS
The study evidenced the compatibility between two measurement software programs, IRIS and DiagnoScope Specialist, except for the F4 formant. It should be noted that the later has advantage over the former since the standard values of vocal acoustic parameters have been worked out by the producer. Moreover, they only slightly departed from the values obtained in our study and may be useful in diagnostics of occupational voice disorders.
Department of Otolaryngology and Laryngological Oncology, Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland.
Hanna
H
Zielińska-Bliźniewska
Wiesław J
WJ
Sułkowski
Piotr
P
Pietkiewicz
Jarosław
J
Miłoński
Agnieszka
A
Mazurek
Jurek
J
Olszewski
D000328:Adult; D002568:Certification; D019937:Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases; D011361:Professional Competence / Q000592:standards*; D012984:Software; D013337:Students, Medical; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D055815:Young Adult