title: The Influence of Native Language on Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Vocal Samples Completed by Brazilian and Canadian SLPs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to determine the influence of native language on the auditory-perceptual assessment of voice, as completed by Brazilian and Anglo-Canadian listeners using Brazilian vocal samples and the grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain (GRBAS) scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is an analytical, observational, comparative, and transversal study conducted at the Speech Language Pathology Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, and at the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department of the University of Alberta in Canada.
  
  
  METHODS
  The GRBAS scale, connected speech, and a sustained vowel were used in this study. The vocal samples were drawn randomly from a database of recorded speech of Brazilian adults, some with healthy voices and some with voice disorders. The database is housed at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Forty-six samples of connected speech (recitation of days of the week), produced by 35 women and 11 men, and 46 samples of the sustained vowel /a/, produced by 37 women and 9 men, were used in this study. The listeners were divided into two groups of three speech therapists, according to nationality: Brazilian or Anglo-Canadian. The groups were matched according to the years of professional experience of participants. The weighted kappa was used to calculate the intra- and inter-rater agreements, with 95% confidence intervals, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An analysis of the intra-rater agreement showed that Brazilians and Canadians had similar results in auditory-perceptual evaluation of sustained vowel and connected speech. The results of the inter-rater agreement of connected speech and sustained vowel indicated that Brazilians and Canadians had, respectively, moderate agreement on the overall severity (0.57 and 0.50), breathiness (0.45 and 0.45), and asthenia (0.50 and 0.46); poor correlation on roughness (0.19 and 0.007); and weak correlation on strain to connected speech (0.22), and moderate correlation to sustained vowel (0.50).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, auditory-perceptual evaluation is not influenced by the native language on most dimensions of the perceptual parameters of the GRBAS scale.
authors.affiliation: Speech-Language Pathology, Post-Graduate Program in Speech Therapy Sciences, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristiane Ribeiro
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chaves
authors.affiliation: Speech-Language Pathology, Rehabilitation Medicine, Communication Sciences and Disorders Department, University of Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Speech-Language Pathology, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Electronic address: anacgama@medicina.ufmg.br.
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Côrtes Gama
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000416:Alberta; D001938:Brazil; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D044384:Ovulation Prediction; D010700:Phonetics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: auditory perception; dysphonia; speech-language pathology; voice; voice disorders