Otolaryngology: Open Access
Open Access

Abstract

Though the subglottal, or tracheal, air pressure, as the energy source for voice production, is important to know in the evaluation of a voice disorder, it has been difficult to measure in a routine clinical evaluation. However, in a paper published in 1973, Rothenberg showed that the subglottal pressure during a voiced vowel could be reliably estimated from the intraoral pressure peaks during adjacent unvoiced bilabial consonants. Since then, this method has developed into a standard technique for both research and clinical applications, and is used in the Aeroview system from Glottal Enterprises and the PAS system marketed by Kay-Pentax. However, in both these systems, the subglottal pressure is obtained by computer algorithms after a pressure signal has been recorded, and is not available for real-time analysis or for meaningful feedback for the speaker. In this paper, we show how a version of this technique can be implemented in a quasi- real-time display that doesn't require the use of a computer. A reading can be obtained in seconds using natural speech, using a convenient hand-held device, and can be made available to the speaker for biofeedback applications. Validation data will be shown in which the new system is compared with Aeroview analysis.

Biography

Martin Rothenberg is a Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Syracuse University and the former Director of the Speech Research Laboratory at that university. His research has centered on the use of aerodynamic measurements, inverse filtering, electroglottography and mathematical modeling to study the speech processes, including a description of the various forms of interaction between the voice source and the vocal tract and their effect on speech and singing. He is currently also the president of Glottal Enterprises.