title: Impact of vocal load on breathiness: perceptual evaluation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact on voice of 2 hours of continuous oral reading.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty normophonic women underwent two sessions of voice loading in which the required intensity level varied: 60-65 dB(A) for the first session, and 70-75 dB(A) for the second session. Ten expert judges evaluated the breathiness of one sentence recorded before and after each loading session. Pairs of stimuli were presented randomly to the judges, who were asked to designate the breathiest sample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A significant decrease in breathiness was observed following both sessions, suggesting an improvement of voice subsequent to loading. When comparing the two intensity levels, no difference was found for breathiness after vocal loading.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Cognition and Behavior, University of Liège , Belgium.
authors.forename: Angélique
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Remacle
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schoentgen
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Finck
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bodson
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morsomme
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D049489:Stroboscopy; D013997:Time Factors; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: Breathiness; pairwise comparison; perceptual analysis; vocal load