PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the etiology and physiology of vocal hyperfunction (VH) using the acoustical measure of voice onset time (VOT). METHOD: Twenty-eight women enrolled as participants in the study, including speakers with a diagnosis of VH (n=14), and age- and sex-matched control participants (n=14). Participants produced three repetitions of distinct VCV combinations of the vowels /α/ and /u/, and stopped voiced and voiceless cognates (e.g., /p/, /b/). Mean VOT was calculated for the three repetitions, and a coefficient of variation (CoV) was calculated for each set to determine variance of VOT. Two separate ANOVAs were completed for mean VOT and CoV of VOT with main effects of group, voiced vs. voiceless plosive, vowel, and place of articulation, and interactions between each variable and group. RESULTS: The first ANOVA model revealed no differences in mean VOT between groups. The second ANOVA revealed statistically significant main effects between groups (p <.001) for the CoV data with a small effect size. No interaction effects were significant for either model. Conclusion: We determined that CoV, a measure of variation in VOTs, was significantly different between healthy speakers and speakers with VH. These results provide further evidence of a speech-motor control deficit in individuals diagnosed with VH, in that they may have more variable targets during voice production. / 2020-07-06T00:00:00Z

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to further understand the role of implicit racial bias in auditory-perceptual evaluations of dysphonic voices. This was assessed by determining if a biasing effect exists for novice raters in their auditory-perceptual ratings of Black and White speakers of General American English who have voice disorders. METHOD: 30 novice clinicians at Boston University listened to audio files of 20 Black speakers and 20 White speakers of General American English with voice disorders. Across two study sessions, listeners rated the overall severity of each voice heard using the CAPE-V visual analog scale and completed the Harvard Implicit Association Test (IAT). RESULTS: Both Black and White speakers were rated as less severe on the CAPE-V when their race was labeled as Black. No significant relationship was found between Harvard IAT scores and severity ratings. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest a minimizing bias for Black patients with voice disorders who present to speech-language pathologists for evaluation. These results will contribute to the understanding of how demographic information unrelated to a voice disorder may impact a patient's visit with a clinician. / 2024-05-30T00:00:00Z

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