title: [Acoustic voice analysis using the Praat program: comparative study with the Dr. Speech program].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The European Laryngological Society (ELS) basic protocol for functional assessment of voice pathology includes 5 different approaches: perception, videostroboscopy, acoustics, aerodynamics and subjective rating by the patient. In this study we focused on acoustic voice analysis. The purpose of the present study was to correlate the results obtained by the commercial software Dr. Speech and the free software Praat in 2 fields: 1. Narrow-band spectrogram (the presence of noise according to Yanagihara, and the presence of subharmonics) (semi-quantitative). 2. Voice acoustic parameters (jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio, fundamental frequency) (quantitative).
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied a total of 99 voice samples from individuals with Reinke's oedema diagnosed using videostroboscopy. One independent observer used Dr. Speech 3.0 and a second one used the Praat program (Phonetic Sciences, University of Amsterdam). The spectrographic analysis consisted of obtaining a narrow-band spectrogram from the previous digitalised voice samples by the 2 independent observers. They then determined the presence of noise in the spectrogram, using the Yanagihara grades, as well as the presence of subharmonics. As a final result, the acoustic parameters of jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio and fundamental frequency were obtained from the 2 acoustic analysis programs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that the sound spectrogram and the numerical values obtained for shimmer and jitter were similar for both computer programs, even though types 1, 2 and 3 voice samples were analysed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Praat and Dr. Speech programs provide similar results in the acoustic analysis of pathological voices.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, España. Electronic address: fnunezb@telefonica.net.
authors.forename: Faustino
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Núñez Batalla
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: González Márquez
authors.affiliation: Grado de Logopedia, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: M Belén
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Peláez González
authors.affiliation: Grado de Logopedia, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: González Laborda
authors.affiliation: Grado de Logopedia, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernández Fernández
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Otorrinolaringología, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, España.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morato Galán
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012984:Software; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014831:Voice
keywords: Acoustic analysis; Análisis acústico; Dr. Speech; Espectrograma; Praat; Sound spectrogram