Output details

Aerodynamic measures of speech in unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) patients

Significance of output:

Unilateral vocal fold paralysis affects one half of the voice production organs and is frequently the result of nerve damage during surgery to the upper chest or neck. It causes a characteristic, breathy voice and often also swallowing disability. Clinical assessment is currently made using acoustic recordings of single, sustained vowels; a method prone to contamination by external noise in a clinical setting. We developed instead the use of oral airflow measures to study running speech, an approach leading to a more noise-robust measurement and a more realistic context in which to assess a patient’s speech performance.