title: The Impact of Dysphonic Voices on Healthy Listeners: Listener Reaction Times, Speech Intelligibility, and Listener Comprehension.
abstract: There is currently minimal information on the impact of dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma on listeners. Considering the high incidence of voice disorders with professional voice users, it is important to understand the impact of a dysphonic voice on their audiences.
  
  
  
  Ninety-one healthy listeners (39 men, 52 women; mean age = 23.62 years) were presented with speech stimuli from 5 healthy speakers and 5 speakers diagnosed with dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma. Dependent variables included processing speed (reaction time [RT] ratio), speech intelligibility, and listener comprehension. Voice quality ratings were also obtained for all speakers by 3 expert listeners.
  
  
  
  Statistical results showed significant differences between RT ratio and number of speech intelligibility errors between healthy and dysphonic voices. There was not a significant difference in listener comprehension errors. Multiple regression analyses showed that voice quality ratings from the Consensus Assessment Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (Kempster, Gerratt, Verdolini Abbott, Barkmeier-Kraemer, & Hillman, 2009) were able to predict RT ratio and speech intelligibility but not listener comprehension.
  
  
  
  Results of the study suggest that although listeners require more time to process and have more intelligibility errors when presented with speech stimuli from speakers with dysphonia secondary to phonotrauma, listener comprehension may not be affected.
authors: Towson University, MDJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors: Paul M
authors: PM
authors: Evitts
authors: Stanford University School of Medicine, CA.
authors: Heather
authors: H
authors: Starmer
authors: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors: Kristine
authors: K
authors: Teets
authors: Towson University, MD.
authors: Christen
authors: C
authors: Montgomery
authors: Towson University, MD.
authors: Lauren
authors: L
authors: Calhoun
authors: Towson University, MD.
authors: Allison
authors: A
authors: Schulze
authors: Towson University, MD.
authors: Jenna
authors: J
authors: MacKenzie
authors: Towson University, MD.
authors: Lauren
authors: L
authors: Adams
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult