Manal Bukhari

Formant analysis in dysphonic patients and automatic Arabic digit speech recognition

Background and objectiveThere has been a growing interest in objective assessment of speech in dysphonic patients for the classification of the type and severity of voice pathologies using automatic speech recognition (ASR). The aim of this work was to study the accuracy of the conventional ASR system (with Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) based front end and hidden Markov model (HMM) based back end) in recognizing the speech characteristics of people with pathological voice.Materials and methodsThe speech samples of 62 dysphonic patients with six different types of voice disorders and 50 normal subjects were analyzed. The Arabic spoken digits were taken as an input. The distribution of the first four formants of the vowel /a/ was extracted to examine deviation of the formants from normal.ResultsThere was 100% recognition accuracy obtained for Arabic digits spoken by normal speakers. However, there was a significant loss of accuracy in the classifications while spoken by voice disordered subjects. Moreover, no significant improvement in ASR performance was achieved after assessing a subset of the individuals with disordered voices who underwent treatment.ConclusionThe results of this study revealed that the current ASR technique is not a reliable tool in recognizing the speech of dysphonic patients.

Characteristics of antrochoanal polyps in the pediatric age group.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare the clinical and the pathological characteristics of antrochoanal polyps (ACPS) in adults and children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 35 patients (19 children, 16 adults) operated upon for ACPS between 1995 and 2005 at an academic tertiary center were reviewed retrospectively. Demographic characteristics, clinical presentation, surgical management, histological findings and recurrence rate were compared. RESULTS: Of the 35 patients, 19 (54%) were children (mean age, 12.6 years) and 16 (46%) were adults (mean age, 31.4 years). Nasal obstruction was the most common presenting symptom in both groups. The incidence of snoring and/or obstructive sleep apnea was statistically significant, more common among the pediatric age group as compared to the adult group (P =.001). Epistaxis was also found to be more common among the pediatric age group (P =.027), while sinusitis was noted to be significantly more common among the adult group (P =.019). Transnasal endoscopic removal of ACPS was performed in 12 (63.1%) children and 11 (68.7%) adults. A combined open/endoscopic approach was required in 36.9% of children and 31.3% of adults. On histologic examination, allergic ACPS (the mucosal surface is respiratory epithelium, no mucus glands, abundant eosinophils) was more common than inflammatory ACPS (the mucosal surface is respiratory epithelium, no mucus glands, abundant neutrophils) in children (2.8:1) as compared to adults (0.8:1) (P =.045). All of our patients were followed with endoscopic examination for a period ranging from 9 to 42 months (mean, 24 months). Recurrence of ACPS was identified in 2 children and 1 adult. CONCLUSION: Antrochoanal polyps are a rare clinical entity. Children have unique clinical and pathological features as compared to adults. Endoscopic excision is safe and effective in the pediatric age group and has the capability to ensure complete removal and lower recurrence rate.

The effect of cochlear implantation and post-operative rehabilitation on acoustic voice analysis in post-lingual hearing impaired adults.

Post-lingual deaf adults can develop some vocal abnormalities similar to those developed in pre-lingual deaf individuals. The aim of this work was to study the effect of cochlear implantation followed by post-operative rehabilitation on voice acoustics in post-lingual hearing impaired adults with different durations of hearing loss. The study included 35 post-lingual hearing impaired adults who underwent cochlear implantation. Patients were divided into two groups according to the duration of their hearing loss. Each group was further divided into two subgroups according to whether they received auditory rehabilitation or not. Using the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP) parameters, comparisons were made between each subgroup of patients and the normal MDVP Saudi database, and between subgroups of patients. Most of the patients in the two groups reported significant improvement in their MDVP results post-implantation. Further, significantly deviant MDVP parameters were reported in the group of patients with longer duration of hearing loss. Patients who received rehabilitation significantly improved more than those who did not. In conclusion, it appears that cochlear implantation improves the auditory control of voice production in post-lingual deaf adults. Also, it is obvious that cochlear implantation at an early stage of hearing loss gives better results on voice control, especially if augmented with auditory rehabilitation.

The Effect of Cochlear Implantation on Nasalance of Speech in Postlingually Hearing-Impaired Adults

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Hypernasality is considered a prevalent speech abnormality that could significantly contribute to the unintelligibility of the hearing-impaired speakers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cochlear implantation and the duration of hearing loss on nasalance of speech of a postlingually impaired group of Saudi adult patients. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. METHODS This study included 25 postlingually hearing-impaired patients who underwent cochlear implantation and 25 age-matched control subjects. Patients were divided into three groups according to the duration of hearing loss. The nasometric data of the hearing-impaired group were compared with the control group. Also, the preoperative values were compared with the postoperative values 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery. RESULTS Significant differences were demonstrated between the preimplantation nasalance scores of the three subgroups and between the patients and control groups. There were statistically significant differences demonstrated between the pre- and the postimplantation nasalance values for the three groups of patients. CONCLUSION Cochlear implantation appears to have significant effects on improving the nasalance of the speech of postlingually hearing-impaired adult patients. However, the degree of improvement might vary according to the duration of hearing loss the patients had preimplantation.

Nasal bone length in Saudi rhinoplasty: a clinical-radiological study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Hump reduction in the presence of short nasal bones can result in significant esthetic and/or functional problems in patients seeking rhinoplasty in the Middle East. The aims of this study were to determine the mean length of nasal bones, amount of nasal dorsum it forms in relation to the whole nose, and incidence of short nasal bones in the Middle Eastern population. DESIGN AND SETTINGS A prospective study that has been carried out in a tertiary care hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 154 patients (80 females and 74 males) who were scheduled for computed tomography scan for the paranasal sinuses were included in the study. The inclusion criteria were adults with no history of facial/nasal trauma, sinus space occupying lesions, or surgery. RESULTS In males, the mean clinical nasal bone length was 19.59 mm and the mean radiological nasal bone length was 24.96 mm. In females, the mean clinical nasal bone length was 18.17 mm and the mean radiological bone length was 22.82 mm. CONCLUSION The bony vault represents 44.2% of the female nose and 44.3% of the male nose. In the present study, no patients displayed a short nasal bone that was less than one-third of the whole nasal length.