© 1997 J. Oates & A. Russell
A CD ROM To Teach Perceptual Voice Analyisis
- Learning Objectives
- Introductory Tutorial
- The Party
- The Rainbow Clinics
- Perceptual Voice Profile
- The Test Clinic
- Glossary
- Evaluation
- More Information??
Learning Objectives
The specific learning objectives of the package
are for students to learn to perceptually discriminate between
the pitch and quality aspects of the voice, to make judgements
about which aspects of particular voices are impaired, to judge
the severity of vocal impairments, and to explain the probable
laryngeal physiology underlying the perceptual features of the
voice. "A Sound Judgement" has six main components
which can be accessed by students in any sequence they choose.
Students are able to move freely between components of the program
at anytime. |
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Introductory Tutorial
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Introductory Tutorial introduces students to
their 'clinical supervisor' who guides them through all later
sections the package. In this tutorial segment, the user can
ask the supervisor a series of questions by clicking on a whiteboard.
The questions cover the learning objectives of the package,
prior knowledge requirements, and the main perceptual components
of voice. |
The Party
The Party hosted by the supervisor is the context
for the next part of the package. The student is invited to
listen to any number of 'guests' at the party by selecting from
20 photos of people on the computer screen. The voices of the
guests represent a range of normal male and female voices as
well as a wide range of impaired voices which include all of
the perceptual features addressed in later components of the
package. When students have listened to a voice, they are asked
to decide whether the voice is normal or impaired. Feedback
is provided to the student by the supervisor and, if the voice
is impaired, the student can then compare that impaired voice
with a corresponding normal voice of a person of the same age
and gender. For any impaired voice, the student can next hear
two other voices which are impaired on the same main perceptual
feature. In this case, the student is able to rank the three
impaired voices in order of severity of impairment. Again, feedback
on the students' decisions is given by the supervisor. Finally,
the student has access to a text description of the probable
laryngeal physiology underlying each impaired voice. |
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The Rainbow Clinics
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The Rainbow Clinics present 10 real clients with
vocal impairments at three levels of complexity. The increasing
levels of complexity are represented as three separate voice
clinic rooms, 'Beginners' 'Intermediate' and 'Advanced'. |
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For each of the three clinic rooms, the student
can evaluate the voices of any of three or four clients who
are seated in the waiting room. Students are able to make their
own choice of which client to listen to and the number of clients
they wish to evaluate in each clinic room. |
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Each clinical case has a videotaped interview
with the client, endoscopic views and animations of the client's
larynx, and written case history reports from a speech pathologist
and an otolaryngologist. Students see and hear the speech pathologist
interviewing the client about their voice problems and have
the option of reading the case history reports and viewing the
endoscopies and animations of the client's larynx at any time.
The speech pathologist then asks the student to make perceptual
ratings of the client's voice on an evaluation format designed
specifically for this package. |
Perceptual Voice Profile
One of the most difficult aspects of developing
this package was the selection of perceptual voice terms and
the descriptions of the probable physiological underpinning
of those terms. We wished to use a voice evaluation format which
would incorporate terminology and definitions which were as
universally accepted as possible, reflect current knowledge
of the relationships between perceptual features and vocal physiology,
be comprehensive enough to include the majority of features
of impaired voices, and be sufficiently clear for speech pathology
students. Feedback to students about their ratings is provided
using ratings made by expert speech-language pathologists. |
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A panel of 10 clinicians with extensive experience
in the management of clients with voice disorders was selected
from three states in Australia to provide the expert ratings.
While formal evaluation of the reliability and inter- and intra-rater
agreement levels for the voice rating format is ongoing, preliminary
findings suggest that inter-rater agreement for this perceptual
scheme is good. |
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Try the Perceptual Voice Profile and let us know what you think
The form is in PDF format. You will need to have Acrobat Reader to open this file.
To download Acrobat Reader (it's free) go to www.adobe.com
Perceptual Components of Voice: Definitions used in 'A Sound Judgement'
The major components of voice are Pitch, Loudness and Quality. Scientific understanding of the physiology underlying these components is not complete, but the descriptions used in this program are currently accepted by the majority of voice scientists.
Pitch:Pitch is the perception of how high or low a voice
is. It is determined mainly by the speed of vibration of the vocal
folds.
The higher the pitch the faster the rate of vibration. The lower the pitch, the slower the rate of vibration. The average or modal pitch of a person's voice may be normal, too high or too low. We also use variations in pitch during speech to signal meaning and emotion and this is referred to as intonation. To indicate that we are asking a question, for example, we increase the pitch of the voice at the end of the sentence. The amount of pitch variation in a voice is perceived along a continuum from monotone to excessively variable. The pitch of a person's voice is considered impaired if it differs from what is expected for that person's age and gender or draws attention to itself because it is too high, too low or lacks variation (monotone).
Loudness:
Quality:
Voice quality is the perception of how clear a voice
sounds. While there is currently no universally accepted terminology
for rating voice quality, this program uses a set of terms that
have good validity and reliability. These terms are breathy, strained,
rough, glottal fry, pitch breaks, phonation breaks, voice arrests,
tremor and falsetto. Some of these can occur in combination and
the resulting voices are termed harsh,whispery or hoarse. Variations
in voice quality are thought to be associated with regularity of
vocal fold vibration, degree of adduction or closure of the vocal
folds, laryngeal muscle tension, and pliability of the mucosal cover
of the folds. For example, a breathy voice is thought to be characterised
by insufficient adduction or closure of the vocal folds.
Breathy:
The breathy voice is characterised by audible air escape during
voice production. Physiologically, this is the result of incomplete
adduction (closure) of the vocal folds. A breathy voice combined
with a strained voice results in a quality that is commonly termed
whispery. A breathy voice combined with a strained and rough voice
results in a quality that is commonly termed hoarse.
Strained:
The strained voice is characterised by the auditory impression of
excessive vocal effort. Physiologically, this is the result of increased
laryngeal muscle tension and constriction. This excess tension may
be restricted to the true vocal folds or may include the ventricular
folds (false vocal folds). A strained voice combined with a breathy
voice results in a quality that is commonly termed whispery. A strained
voice combined with a rough voice results in a quality that is commonly
termed harsh. A strained voice combined with a breathy and rough
voice results in a quality that is commonly termed hoarse.
Rough:
The rough voice is characterised by a lack of clarity. Physiologically,
this is thought to be the result of irregular vibration of the vocal
folds. A rough voice combined with a strained voice results in a
quality that is commonly termed harsh. A rough voice combined with
a breathy and strained voice results in a quality that is commonly
termed hoarse.
Glottal Fry:
The voice with glottal fry (vocal fry) is characterised by the impression
of a rapid series of low-pitched 'pops' or 'taps' and a creaky quality.
The physiological basis of glottal fry is complex and not well understood.
A longer closed phase of vocal fold vibration than normal, low frequency
of vocal fold vibration, tightly adducted vocal folds with the free
edges apparently flaccid (slack) are thought to contribute to this
quality.
Falsetto:
The voice is normally high pitched and
characterised by a thin, light quality that can give the impression
of immaturity. There may be a perception of excess air escape. Physiologically
there is a high frequency of vocal fold vibration, thinning of the
vocal fold edge, and incomplete closure along the length of the
vocal folds.
Glottal Fry:
Pitch breaks are characterised by sudden, unexpected
and uncontrolled changes in pitch in either an upward or downward
direction.
Phonation Breaks :
Phonation breaks are characterised by sudden,
unexpected and uncontrolled breaks in the voice that are of short
duration. These breaks are due to sudden cessation of vibration
of the vocal folds and are heard as a moment of turbulent air escape
with no voice.
Voice arrests :
Voice arrests are stoppages of voicing due
to uncontrolled adduction of the vocal folds. Voice arrests are
considered to be a specific characteristic of Spasmodic Dysphonia.
A person with adductor spasm may sound as if their voice is strained
or strangled. Diplophonia Diplophonia is the perception of two pitches
simultaneously in the voice. It is rare, and the underlying physiology
is not understood.
The Test Clinic
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The Test Clinic provides students with a summative
assessment of their voice evaluation skills and has a similar
structure to the Clinic component. When the student has completed
the evaluation of the two clients in this clinic, their performance
on both perceptual analysis and understanding of laryngeal physiology
is assessed against pre-set criteria. Feedback is provided by
the speech pathologist and a certificate of achievement is awarded
if the student has met the criteria for successful completion
of the package. If the student does not meet criteria, he or
she is encouraged to revise earlier components of the program,
to seek assistance from their peers and instructors, and to
return to the Test Clinic at a later time. |
Glossary
A glossary of terms incorporating a scroll-down
menu can be accessed at any time and from any part of the package.
When the user clicks on a particular term, an explanation is
provided on the computer screen in the form of text, diagrams,
photos and videos where appropriate. Preliminary Evaluation
Students' evaluations of the package are obtained using on-screen
questionnaires which are completed as the student leaves each
clinic level and again when the student has worked through the
Test Clinic. |
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Evaluation
A prototype version of "A Sound Judgement" was trialed by a small group of third and fourth year students from the speech-language pathology program at the Flinders University of South Australia. The focus group interview responses indicated that the package was well received and it had motivated students to understand perceptual voice analysis in more depth than they had done in using audiotape recordings alone, as they had done in a previous course. They all agreed that the high level of interactivity was a strength of the program. They were very positive about the reality of the program and felt they were participating in the interview process. The access to other information about the client including reports and endoscopy of the larynx added to this feeling of being involved with a real client. The opportunity to make perceptual judgements in a "safe" environment, where client management was not compromised, and peers could not be critical of incorrect answers, was valued by all of the students. Overall, the student responses from the focus group suggest that the aims of the package to encourage active and self directed participation in clinical decision making have been met. The students enjoyed using the program and indicated that they were motivated to go back and use it again, as the program was flexible enough to meet their own learning needs. The program will be evaluated by larger groups of students using the on-screen evaluations and focus group interviews. Any other suggestions for the evaluation of this program would be welcome.
More Information??
A Sound Judgement
is available for purchase now from Clear Digital Vision 
Send your comments or requests for further information to Jennifer Oates at laTrobe University or Stuart Burns at Flinders University.
This project was funded by a National Teaching Development Grant (3020-6) from the Australian Government Committee for the Advancement of University Teaching.