Herramienta para la evaluación acústica de la voz en entornos hospitalarios: EVALUA

In the field of acoustic evaluation of the phonatory system, the distinct available tools are not exempt from the need to interpret their results and for extensive knowledge of the characteristics of the speech signal in the different domains of representation. This article presents a simple and robust software tool that aims to document voice quality from a recording of a sustained vowel. This tool measures four physical phenomena that define voice quality objectively and automatically. These four physical phenomena are referred to as: voice stability, spectral richness, the presence of noise, and mass irregularities. We have developed a software tool that automatically identifies variations in the four physical phenomena with respect to their normal ranges, and therefore allows normal voice to be differentiated from pathological voices. To analyze the performance of this system, we evaluated 86 speakers in a control group and 155 speakers with various laryngeal disorders and distinct degrees of dysphonia. A sensitivity of 89% and a specificity of 89.5% were obtained in discriminating between normal and pathological voices. This clinical study shows that the tool is clinically relevant in the assessment and documentation of patients with voice disorders.