Auditory-perceptual and acoustic measures in women with and without vocal nodules

Abstract

Purpose To compare the acoustic and auditory-perceptual measures of the voice of women with and without vocal nodules. Methods Twelve women with vocal nodules (MNV group) and 12 without vocal nodules (MSNV group) participated in the study. They were submitted to the recording of their sustained /a/ vowel, in order to extract the mean of the fundamental frequency (f0), standard deviation of f0 (SD f0), jitter, shimmer, GNE, cepstral measure of CPPS, and spectral measures of differences of the first and second harmonics (H1-H2); and recording of the carrier phrases: “I say papa baixinho”, “I say pipa baixinho” and “I say pupa baixinho”, to extract the first (F1) and second formant (F2) of the vowel segments /a, i, u/. For auditory-perceptual assessment, the visual-analog scale (VAS) was used. Results The comparative analysis between the groups shows higher values for the MNV in the parameters general degree, roughness and breathiness, and for the shimmer acoustic measure. The F1 values for the vowels /a/ and /u/, and the F2 values for the vowel /a/ were higher in the same group. Conclusion According to the data observed in the investigated sample, women with nodules have more deviated voices, with the presence of roughness and breathiness, and changes in vocal tract adjustments, with a possible reduction in the amplitude of the articulators, when compared to women without vocal nodules.