title: Quantification of instability of tone production in embouchure dystonia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Musician's dystonia is a task-specific loss of voluntary motor control of the fingers or the embouchure. In contrast to pianists' dystonia, which can be objectively assessed based on movement kinematics and muscular activities, no objective quantitative measure has been established for embouchure dystonia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We focused on acoustic signals, and investigated, whether the fluctuation of the time-varying fundamental frequency of a note can provide an objective and reliable measure of embouchure dystonia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A comparison between patients with embouchure dystonia and healthy controls found a significantly higher variability of the fundamental frequency for the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings propose a new quantification and objectivation method for embouchure dystonia.
authors.affiliation: University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: eckart.altenmueller@hmtm-hannover.de.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.affiliation: University of Yamanashi, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, 400-8510 Kofu, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morise
authors.affiliation: University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany; Gordon College, Department of Kinesiology, 01984 Wenham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Iltis
authors.affiliation: University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, Institute for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine, Emmichplatz 1, 30175 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Altenmüller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D020821:Dystonic Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement; D009129:Muscle Tonus / Q000502:physiology*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Frequency analysis; Motor control; Movement disorders; Musicians; Task-specificity