A New Voice Rating Tool for Clinical Practice

SummaryAimsPerceptual rating of voice quality is a key component in the comprehensive assessment of voice, but there are practical difficulties in making reliable measurements. We have developed the Newcastle Audio Ranking (NeAR) test, a new referential system for the rating of voice parameters. In this article, we present our first results using NeAR.MethodsWe asked five experts and 11 naive raters to assess 15 male and 15 female voices using the NeAR test. We assessed: validity with respect to the GRBAS scale; interrater reliability; sensitivity to subtle voice differences; and the performance of expert versus naïve raters.ResultsThere was a uniformly excellent agreement with GRBAS (r = 0.87) and interrater agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.86). Considering each GRBAS grade of voice separately, there was still good interrater agreement in NeAR, implying it has good sensitivity to subtle changes. All these results were equally true for expert and naive raters.ConclusionThe NeAR test is a promising new tool in the assessment of voice disorders.