Approximations of open quotient and speed quotient from glottal airflow and egg waveforms : Effects of measurement criteria and sound pressure level

Noninvasive measures of vocal fold activity are useful for describingnormal and disordered voice production. Measures of open and speed quotient from glottal airflow and electroglottographic (EGG) waveforms have been used to describe timing events associated with vocal fold vibration. To date, there has been little consistency in the measurement criteria used to calculate quotient values. In this study, criteria of 20% and 50% were applied to the AC amplitude of glottal airflow and inverted EGG waveforms for measurement of open quotient. Criteria of 20%, 50%, and 80%, and a midslope criterion that segmented the waveform between 20% and 80% of the waveform amplitude, were used for the calculation of speed quotient. Subjects produced waveforms at sound pressure levels (SPL) of 70, 75, 80 and 85 dB. Results indicated that approximations of open quotient obtained from the glottal airflow waveform significantly decreased using both the 20% and 50% criteria as SPL increased from 80 to 85 dB. No significant changes were found in open quotient from the EGG waveform as a function of SPL. Results of speed quotient measures from the glottal airflow and EGG waveforms showed a generally increasing trend as SPL increased, although the differences were not statistically significant. The data suggest that the signal type, measurement criterion and SPL must be considered in interpreting quotient measures.     

Vocal Intensity Characteristics inNormal and Elderly Speakers

The relationship of lung pressure, fundamental frequency, peak airflow, open quotient, and maximal flow declination rate to vocal intensity for a normal speaking, young male control group and an elderly male group was investigated. The control group consisted of 17 healthy male subjects with a mean age of 30 years and the elderly group consisted of 11 healthy male subjects with a mean age of 77 years. Data were collected at three levels of vocal intensity: soft, comfortable, and loud, corresponding to 25%, 50%, and 75% of dynamic range, respectively. Phonational threshold pressure and lung pressure were obtained using the intraoral technique. The oral airflow waveform was inverse filtered to provide an approximation to the glottal airflow waveform from which measures of fundamental frequency, peak airflow, open quotient, and maximal flow declination rate were determined. Excess lung pressure was calculated as lung pressure minus estimated phonational threshold pressure. The results show for both groups an increase in sound pressure level across the conditions, with corresponding increases in lung pressure, excess lung pressure, fundamental frequency, peak airflow, and maximal flow declination rate. Open quotient decreased with increasing vocal intensity. Lung pressure, sound pressure level, and peak airflow were all found to be significantly greater for the control group than for the elderly group at each condition. Open quotient was found to be significantly lower in the control group than in the elderly group at each condition. No significant difference was observed for excess lung pressure, phonational threshold pressure, fundamental frequency, or maximal flow declination rate between the two groups. These results show that a difference in vocal intensity does exist between young and elderly voices and that this difference is the result of differences in lung pressure, peak airflow, and open quotient.     

Aerodynamic Measurements: Normative Data for Children Ages 6:0 to 10:11 Years

Normative measures of open quotient, speed quotient, maximum flow declination rate (MFDR), and subglottal pressure were determined for 75 children between the ages of 6 years 0 months and 10 years 11 months. The participants produced a sustained /a/ at low, comfort, and high pitches for a minimum of 5 seconds, and five to seven repetitions of /pa/ at low, comfort, and high pitches. No statistically significant differences were found in the mean measures of any aerodynamic variables (open quotient, speed quotient, maximum flow declination rate, subglottal pressure) between the frequency levels (low, comfort, high pitches). Also, no strong evidence (P > .05) exists that age or sex effect differed between the frequency levels (low, comfort, high) for any of the aerodynamic measures. For /a/ response tasks, mean open quotient measures increased slightly from low to comfort frequency and from comfort to high frequency. Mean speed quotient measures showed minimal differences between low and comfort frequency, with decreased mean measures for high frequency. Mean MFDR measures increased from low to comfort frequency and from comfort to high frequency. Mean subglottal pressure measures increased slightly from low to comfort frequency and from comfort to high frequency.     

Just noticeable differences forglottal flow waveform characteristics

This study was primarily motivated by the need to establish the correspondence between auditory abilities and laryngeal function. Just noticeable differences (JNDs) were obtained for the open quotient and speed quotient of the glottal flow waveform. The quotients were synthesized for both the glottal flow alone, and for the output pressure signal after the glottal flow signal was applied to the synthesis vocal tract for the vowel /a/. Six adult men and five adult women, all teachers of singing, participated as listeners. An adaptive auditory listening procedure was used to estimate JNDs for the four types of stimuli. The group average JND values were as follows. For the standard open quotient value of .6000, JND = 0.0264 (SD = .010) for the glottal flow and JND = 0.0344 (SD = .020) for the output pressure. For the open quotient, there was no statistically significant difference between genders or between the types of signals. For the standard speed quotient value of 2.000, JND = 0.154 (SD = .043) for the glottal flow and JND = 0.319 (SD = .167) for the output pressure. For the speed quotient, there was no statistically significant difference between genders, but the difference between types of stimulus (glottal flow versus output pressure) was significant (p <.006). The variance among the JND values was significantly larger for the output pressure stimuli compared to the glottal flow stimuli for both the open quotient and the speed quotient.     

Photoglottographic measures in parkinson''s disease

This study examines the usefulness of photoglottographic measures in reflecting the phonatory effect of Parkinson's disease. In the first experiment, data obtained by photoglottography were compared between 15 male patients with Parkinson's disease and 15 normal male speakers of similar age. Six photoglottographic parameters, mean open quotient (OQ), mean speed quotient (SQ), perturbation of open quotient (POQ), perturbation of speed quotient (PSQ), frequency perturbation ratio (FPR), and amplitude perturbation ratio (APR), in sustained vowel phonation were investigated. Increased SQ (t = -2.731, df = 28, P = 0.011) and POQ (t = -2.584, df = 28, P = 0.015) were significantly associated with data from patients in comparison to normal speakers. The FPR, APR, and OQ were not significantly different between normal subjects and patients. A follow-up experiment, including 12 female and 19 male patients with Parkinson's disease, was designed to evaluate the sensitivity of SQ and POQ in detecting vocal dysfunction. The sensitivity of SQ was found to be relatively high (93.5%), while that of POQ was low (45.2%). Methodological issues regarding the effects of gender, age, stage of the disease, and treatment on photoglottographic measures in Parkinson's disease were discussed.     

Electroglottographic quasi-open quotient and amplitude in crescendo phonation

Crescendo phonation (swelltone) was used to evaluate the laryngeal tensioning behavior of seven normal speakers and of 12 dysphonic patients. EGG quasi-open quotient (qOq), stroboscopic open quotient, and vocal sound pressure level (SPL) were measured, and EGG amplitude and the mucosal wave were assessed qualitatively. For normal speakers, the qOq decreased greatly as vocal intensity increased. The same tendency was observed, but to a lesser extent, among hyperfunctional dysphonics. In contrast, qOq increased with vocal intensity among the hypofunctional dysphonics. The crescendo task combined with EGG assessment appears to offer a valid approach to the classification of laryngeal dysfunctions.     

Vocal intensity in speakers and singers.

Vocal intensity is studied as a function of fundamental frequency and lung pressure. A combination of analytical and empirical models is used to predict sound pressure levels from glottal waveforms of five professional tenors and twenty five normal control subjects. The glottal waveforms were obtained by inverse filtering the mouth flow. Empirical models describe features of the glottal flow waveform (peak flow, peak flow derivative, open quotient, and speed quotient) in terms of lung pressure and phonation threshold pressure, a key variable that incorporates the Fo dependence of many of the features of the glottal flow. The analytical model describes the contributions to sound pressure levels SPL by the vocal tract. Results show that SPL increases with Fo at a rate of 8-9 dB/octave provided that lung pressure is raised proportional to phonation threshold pressure. The SPL also increases at a rate of 8-9 dB per doubling of excess pressure over threshold, a new quantity that assumes considerable importance in vocal intensity calculations. For the same excess pressure over threshold, the professional tenors produced 10-12 dB greater intensity than the male nonsingers, primarily because their peak airflow was much higher for the same pressure. A simple set of rules is devised for predicting SPL from source waveforms.     

Aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics of the adult AfricanAmerican voice

Laryngeal aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics of African American voice production were examined from vowel samples produced by ten adult female and ten adult male speakers. The data were compared with that for a control group consisting of ten adult female and ten adult male White speakers, matched for age, height, and weight. All measures were analyzed using Cspeech 4.0. Aerodynamic measurements, extracted from a glottal airflow waveform, included maximum flow declination rate, alternating glottal airflow, minimum glottal airflow, and airflow open quotient. Acoustic measures included fundamental frequency and sound pressure level. No significant mean differences between the African American and White speakers were found, except for maximum-flow declination rate. The White speakers produced significantly higher declination rates than the African American speakers. The factor of sex for the African American speakers was statistically significant for the measures of maximum-flow declination rate, alternating glottal airflow, open quotient, and fundamental frequency, consistent with the functioning of the White speakers. The results suggest that during vowel production, where the vocal tract is in a fairly static position, acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics for African American and White Speakers are comparable.     

Investigating acoustic correlates of human vocal fold vibratory phase asymmetry through modeling and laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy

Vocal fold vibratory asymmetry is often associated with inefficient sound production through its impact on source spectral tilt. This association is investigated in both a computational voice production model and a group of 47 human subjects. The model provides indirect control over the degree of left-right phase asymmetry within a nonlinear source-filter framework, and high-speed videoendoscopy provides in vivo measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry. Source spectral tilt measures are estimated from the inverse-filtered spectrum of the simulated and recorded radiated acoustic pressure. As expected, model simulations indicate that increasing left-right phase asymmetry induces steeper spectral tilt. Subject data, however, reveal that none of the vibratory asymmetry measures correlates with spectral tilt measures. Probing further into physiological correlates of spectral tilt that might be affected by asymmetry, the glottal area waveform is parameterized to obtain measures of the open phase (open/plateau quotient) and closing phase (speed/closing quotient). Subjects' left-right phase asymmetry exhibits low, but statistically significant, correlations with speed quotient (r=0.45) and closing quotient (r=-0.39). Results call for future studies into the effect of asymmetric vocal fold vibration on glottal airflow and the associated impact on voice source spectral properties and vocal efficiency.     

Comparing closed quotient in children singers' voices as measured by high-speed-imaging, electroglottography, and inverse filtering

The closed quotient, i.e., the ratio between the closed phase and the period, is commonly studied in voice research. However, the term may refer to measures derived from different methods, such as inverse filtering, electroglottography or high-speed digital imaging (HSDI). This investigation compares closed quotient data measured by these three methods in two boy singers. Each singer produced sustained tones on two different pitches and a glissando. Audio, electroglottographic signal (EGG), and HSDI were recorded simultaneously. The audio signal was inverse filtered by means of the decap program; the closed phase was defined as the flat minimum portion of the flow glottogram. Glottal area was automatically measured in the high speed images by the built-in camera software, and the closed phase was defined as the flat minimum portion of the area-signal. The EGG-signal was analyzed in four different ways using the matlab open quotient interface. The closed quotient data taken from the EGG were found to be considerably higher than those obtained from inverse filtering. Also, substantial differences were found between the closed quotient derived from HSDI and those derived from inverse filtering. The findings illustrate the importance of distinguishing between these quotients.     

Glottal airflow and transglottal air pressure measurements for male and female speakers in soft, normal, and loud voice

Measurements on the inverse filtered airflow waveform (the "glottal waveform") and of estimated average transglottal pressure and glottal airflow were made from noninvasive recordings of productions of syllable sequences in soft, normal, and loud voice for 25 male and 20 female speakers. Statistical analyses showed that with change from normal to loud voice, both males and females produced loud voice with increased pressure, accompanied by increased ac flow and increased maximum airflow declination rate. With change from normal voice, soft voice was produced with decreased pressure, ac flow and maximum airflow declination rate, and increased dc and average flow. Within the loudness conditions, there was no significant male-female difference in air pressure. Several glottal waveform parameters separated males and females in normal and loud voice. The data indicate higher ac flow and higher maximum airflow declination rate for males. In soft voice, the male and female glottal waveforms were more alike, and there was no significant difference in maximum airflow declination rate. The dc flow did not differ significantly between males and females. Possible relevance to biomechanical differences and differences in voice source characteristics between males and females and across loudness conditions is discussed.     

Metabolic Effects of HAY's Diet

Abstract

The aim of the study was, to evaluate the metabolic effect of HAY's diet on protein turnover, fat oxidation, respiratory quotient, body fat and weight loss. Twelve healthy adults received an individually regular diet and thereafter a corresponding isocaloric and isonitrogenous 10-day HAY-diet. Protein turnover and ¹³C-fat oxidation were investigated after administration of [¹⁵N]glycine and an [U-¹³C]algae lipid mixture. The ¹⁵N and ¹³C enrichment in urine and breath were measured by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The respiratory quotient was measured by indirect calorimetry. Body fat, total body water and lean body mass were estimated by bio-electric impedance analysis. HAY's diet led to a significantly higher ¹³C-fat oxidation (15.4 vs. 22.0% P < 0.01), corresponding to a lower respiratory quotient (0.88 vs. 0.81; P < 0.01), whereas the protein turnover remained constant in both diets (3.06 vs. 3.05 g/kg/day). HAY's diet did not reduce total body water, lean body mass, body fat and body weight (72.2 vs. 71.4 kg).     

利用地磁场综合模型CM4分析中国大陆地区地磁场变化

第四代地磁场综合模型CM4是迄今为止将地磁场的内源场和外源场分离得最为彻底的数学模型.利用该模型结合Taylor多项式模型,基于1960—2000年期间中国大陆地区的实测数据,计算并分析了以10a为间隔的内源场和外源场的变化情况,通过将1960—1990年的所有磁异常点归算至2000年以分析地壳磁异常场的总体分布趋势.结果显示:地磁北向分量X的内源场强度总体呈逐年减弱的趋势,从1960年到2000年共下降了约750nT,外源场强度总体呈先增强后减弱的趋势,共下降了约32nT;地磁东向分量Y的内源场强度总体呈先减弱后增强的趋势,1960—2000年期间共上升了约40nT,外源场强度总体呈先减弱后增强再减弱的趋势,共上升了约3.8nT;地磁垂直分量Z的内源场变化趋势与Y分量类似,共上升了约600nT,外源场总体呈先减弱后增强的趋势,共上升了约4.6nT.对于地壳磁异常场,X分量、Z分量、地磁总强度F和地磁水平分量H在中国大陆地区都为负异常分布,X分量和H分量的负异常强度随经度增加而减弱,Z分量和F分量则相反;Y分量和磁偏角D的分布较为类似,在中国的中西部大部分地区为正异常,强度随经度增加而减弱,磁倾角I主要以负异常为主,负异常强度随经度增加而增强.     

The perception of two vocal qualities in a synthesized vocal utterance: ring and pressed voice

Two vocal qualities, ringquality and pressed quality, were analyzed perceptually. Listeners were asked to rate (on a scale from 0 to 10) the “amount of ring” in one listening and the “amount of pressedness” in another listening. The stimulus was the synthesized utterance /ya-ya-ya-ya-ya/. In the continuum representation of ring, the skewing quotient and the cross section of the epilaryngeal tube area were systematically varied, independently and by a covariation rule. In the continuum representation of pressed, the flow amplitude and open quotient were similarly varied. Results indicated that the crossover point between ring and no ring occurred with an epilaryngeal area of around 1.0 cm², and the crossover point between pressed and not pressed quality occurred at an open quotient of about 0.4. Fundamental frequency also had an effect on the perceptions, with a higher fundamental frequency receiving higher ratings of ring and pressed for otherwise the same parameters. Listeners demonstrated highly variable perceptions in both continua with poor intersubject, intrasubject, and intergroup reliability.     

Just noticeable differences of open quotient and asymmetry coefficient in singing voice

This study aims to explore the perceptual relevance of the variations of glottal flow parameters and to what extent a small variation can be detected. Just Noticeable Differences (JNDs) have been measured for three values of open quotient (0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) and two values of asymmetry coefficient (2/3 and 0.8), and the effect of changes of vowel, pitch, vibrato, and amplitude parameters has been tested. Two main groups of subjects have been analyzed: a group of 20 untrained subjects and a group of 10 trained subjects. The results show that the JND for open quotient is highly dependent on the target value: an increase of the JND is noticed when the open quotient target value is increased. The relative JND is constant: ΔO_q/O_q = 14% for the untrained and 10% for the trained. In the same way, the JND for asymmetry coefficient is also slightly dependent on the target value–an increase of the asymmetry coefficient value leads to a decrease of the JND. The results show that there is no effect from the selected vowel or frequency (two values have been tested), but that the addition of a vibrato has a small effect on the JND of open quotient. The choice of an amplitude parameter also has a great effect on the JND of open quotient.     

On Ternary Quotients of Cubic Hecke Algebras

We prove that the quotient of the group algebra of the braid group introduced by Funar (Commun Math Phys 173:513–558, 1995) collapses in characteristic distinct from 2. In characteristic 2 we define several quotients of it, which are connected to the classical Hecke and Birman-Wenzl-Murakami quotients, but which admit in addition a symmetry of order 3. We also establish conditions on the possible Markov traces factorizing through it.     

Glottal airflow and transglottal air pressure measurements for male and female speakers in low, normal, and high pitch

Measurements on the inverse filtered airflow waveform and of estimated average transglottal pressure and glottal airflow were made from syllable sequences in low, normal, and high pitch for 25 male and 20 female speakers. Correlation analyses indicated that several of the airflow measurements were more directly related to voice intensity than to fundamental frequency (F₀). Results suggested that pressure may have different influences in low and high pitch in this speech task. It is suggested that unexpected results of increased pressure in low pitch were related to maintaining voice quality, that is, avoiding vocal fry. In high pitch, the increased pressure may serve to maintain vocal fold vibration. The findings suggested different underlying laryngeal mechanisms and vocal adjustments for increasing and decreasing F₀ from normal pitch.     

Clinical Characteristics and Voice Analysis of Patients With Mutational Dysphonia: Clinical Significance of Diplophonia and Closed Quotients

The aim of this study was to investigate the acoustic and electroglottographic characteristics of patients with mutational dysphonia before and after voice therapy. The clinical records of 15 patients with mutational dysphonia were reviewed, and their voice recordings were analyzed with the help of the Lx Speech Studio program (Laryngograph Ltd, London, UK). After voice therapy combined with the manual compression method, the subjects' voices lowered in pitch and improved in quality. In addition, we classified the mutational dysphonia into four categories according to the presence of diplophonia and closed quotients. The most common type among the categories was characterized by a bimodal distribution of fundamental frequency (diplophonia), accompanied by a low closed quotient (falsetto voice) at high frequencies. However, the results also showed that mutational dysphonia cannot be generalized as always having a falsetto voice, as shown in other types. The effect of therapy was different for each type, and those cases with both diplophonia and a non-trained falsetto voice could be treated more readily. Consequently, the diplophonia and closed quotient, which were easily analyzed using Lx Speech Studio program, are important factors in the classification of mutational dysphonia. Identification of these characteristics may affect treatment choices, facilitate monitoring of the efficacy of therapy, and aid in estimating prognosis.     

Verma Modules for Yangians

We study the Verma modules M((μu)) over the Yangian Y associated with a simple Lie algebra . We give necessary and sufficient conditions for irreducibility of M(μ(u)). Moreover, regarding the simple quotient L((μu)) of M((μu)) as an -module, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for finite-dimensionality of the weight subspaces of L((μu)).