An automatic method to detect and track the glottal gap from high speed videoendoscopic images.
BACKGROUND
The image-based analysis of the vocal folds vibration plays an important role in the diagnosis of voice disorders. The analysis is based not only on the direct observation of the video sequences, but also in an objective characterization of the phonation process by means of features extracted from the recorded images. However, such analysis is based on a previous accurate identification of the glottal gap, which is the most challenging step for a further automatic assessment of the vocal folds vibration.


METHODS
In this work, a complete framework to automatically segment and track the glottal area (or glottal gap) is proposed. The algorithm identifies a region of interest that is adapted along time, and combine active contours and watershed transform for the final delineation of the glottis and also an automatic procedure for synthesize different videokymograms is proposed.


RESULTS
Thanks to the ROI implementation, our technique is robust to the camera shifting and also the objective test proved the effectiveness and performance of the approach in the most challenging scenarios that it is when exist an inappropriate closure of the vocal folds.


CONCLUSIONS
The novelties of the proposed algorithm relies on the used of temporal information for identify an adaptive ROI and the use of watershed merging combined with active contours for the glottis delimitation. Additionally, an automatic procedure for synthesize multiline VKG by the identification of the glottal main axis is developed.
Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo, Crta. M40 km, 38, Madrid, Spain. gxandrade@ics.upm.es.
Gustavo
G
Andrade-Miranda
Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo, Crta. M40 km, 38, Madrid, Spain. ignacio.godino@upm.es.
Juan I
JI
Godino-Llorente
Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo, Crta. M40 km, 38, Madrid, Spain. laureano.moro@upm.es.
Laureano
L
Moro-Velázquez
Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo, Crta. M40 km, 38, Madrid, Spain. jorge.gomez.garcia@upm.es.
Jorge Andrés
JA
Gómez-García
D001331:Automation; D004724:Endoscopy; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D010699:Phonation; D013997:Time Factors; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000502:physiology