Zuleica Camargo

Relação entre qualidade de vida e auto-percepção da qualidade vocal de pacientes laringectomizados totais: estudo piloto

PURPOSE: to investigate life quality indications in individuals that underwent a total laryngectomy and their relationship with the vocal quality hearing-perceptive aspects. METHODS: the studied population was made up by six total laryngectomized individuals between 40 and 60-year old, of both genders, esophageal or tracheae-esophageal speech speakers. Life and Voice Quality (QVV) protocol (Behlau et al., 2001) and a fluency scale guide (Robe et al. ,1956) were applied for trials of Speech Therapy graduation and post-graduation students; and voice self-perception guide for trials of total laryngectomized individuals. RESULTS: the values for Physical Dominion of QVV were on average 63.19 and in the Social-Emotional Dominion 80.20, considering 100 as threshold. The subjects that showed a low global score are those that feel a major voice discomfort, referred to as tension and hoarseness and that the examiners classified as subjects with limitations to communicate. The subjects with values within the global high score have a better perception of their voice and underwent speech therapy, having been classified by the group of examiners as good speakers who get to give out sentences or have a fluent speech, with no hesitation. CONCLUSION: the score in the Physical Dominion was higher than in the Social-Emotional Dominion, and such data show that the major discomfort appears in the Physical Dominion. The trials carried through by the professionals and by the total laryngectomized individuals were correlated amongst themselves and with QVV.

Características vocais do canto japonês nos gêneros enka e mudo enka

PURPOSE: to compare from a perceptual perspective the vocal characteristics of enka and mudo enka Japanese singing genre. METHODS: ten recordings, from commercially available CDs, of five professional Japanese singers who sing the enka genre and five of the mudo enka genre were selected. We elaborated a voice evaluation protocol with vocal characteristics found in both genres of Japanese music. The evaluation was carried out by three speech pathologists, licensed by the Speech Pathology Federal Board, who determined the most outstanding vocal characteristics of each genre, from a literature-based stratification. RESULTS: in the enka genre, the kobushi, the vibrato and crescendos and decrescendos were present in 100% of the vocal samples. We found 80% of metal, 90% of nasality and registration alternation and 70% of soprosity. In the mudo enka genre, the crescendos and decrescendos were present in 100% of the vocal samples. We found 70% of soprosity, 90% of vibrato, 50% of registration alternation, 40% of metal and 20% of nasality and kobushi. CONCLUSION: When comparing the two genres, enka and mudo enka, we verified the strong presence of Kobushi in the enka genre, along with a larger predominance of vibrato, metal, nasality, alternation of registrations and crescendos and decrescendos. The soprosity was found in equal rates in both genres. The identification of vocal characteristics is useful for the speech pathologist as well as singing professors when helping their clients (singers) during the learning of the Japanese singing or in its improvement.

Influência da largura de banda de formantes na qualidade vocal

OBJETIVO: investigar os valores da largura de banda dos tres primeiros formantes (B1, B2 e B3) e sua correlacao com a analise perceptivo-auditiva da qualidade vocal das emissoes orais de individuos disfonicos e comparar com o grupo controle. METODOS: o grupo estudado foi representado por amostras de voz e julgamentos perceptivo-auditivos da qualidade vocal do banco de dados do Laboratorio Integrado de Analise Acustica e Cognicao (LIAAC-PUCSP) de 17 individuos do sexo feminino, com idades variadas entre 30 e 65 anos, todos com diagnostico de disfonia, cujas amostras foram anteriomente exploradas quanto a frequencia dos formantes e 5 individuos do sexo feminino sem diagnostico de alteracoes vocais (grupo controle). Os resultados foram considerados de forma qualitativa e quantitativa por meio dos testes Qui-quadrado e correlacionados aos dados da analise perceptivo-auditiva. RESULTADOS: os ajustes da qualidade vocal que revelaram influencia nos valores das medidas de banda de formantes no grupo estudado foram a nasalidade, escape de ar, ajuste de faringe (constricao-expansao), altura de lingua (alta-baixa) e tambem a aperiodicidade, caracteristica de ajustes com vocal fry, voz crepitante e voz soprosa. As medidas de B1 e B2 mostraram diferencas significativas em ambas as repeticoes (gata 1 e 2) com respectivos valores de B1 p-valor= 0,023 e B2 p-valor= 0,000 (para gata 1) e B1 p-valor= 0,064 (para gata 2). CONCLUSAO: os valores de B1 e B2 revelaram diferencas estatisticamente significantes entre o grupo estudado portador de disfonia por alteracao glotica e grupo controle.

Vocal quality assessment: methodological approach for a perceptive data analysis

Mailing address: Maria Fabiana Bonfim de Lima Silva Departamento de Fonoaudiologia, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Paraíba Cidade Universitária, Campus I, Castelo Branco CEP: 58051-900 João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brasil E-mail: fbl_fono@yahoo.com.br ABSTRACT Purpose: to present a methodological approach for interpreting perceptual judgments of vocal quality by a group of evaluators who used the script Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme. Methods: cross-sectional study based on 90 speech samples from 25 female teachers with voice disorders and/or laryngeal changes. Prior to the perceptual judgment, we performed three perceptual tasks to select samples which were then presented to five evaluators using the Experiment script MFC 3.2 (software PRAAT). Next, we applied a sequence of tests based on successive approaches to interand intra-evaluator behavior. Data were treated by statistical analysis (Cochran and Selenor tests). Results: with respect to the analysis of the evaluators’ performance, it was possible to define those that presented the best results, in terms of reliability and proximity of analyses, compared to the most experienced evaluator, excluding one. The results of the cluster analysis also allowed designing a voice quality profile of the group of speakers studied. Conclusions: the proposal of a methodological approach allowed defining evaluators whose judgments were based on phonetic knowledge, and drawing a vocal quality profile of the group of samples analyzed.

Análise da qualidade vocal antes e após o uso profissional e social da voz

Purpose To analyze the effects of social and professional voice use in the voice quality of women in a time frame of two hours and 30 minutes using auditory-perceptual evaluation. Methods A case-control study with two groups: professional voice users, with 31 Belo Horizonte school teachers aged 28-59 years; social voice users, with 42 females aged 31-59 years with no occupational voice use. The data was collected at two time points, in the morning period, before starting the use of voice and after two hours and thirty minutes. The subjects were instructed to read sentences in their normal speaking voice. The same recording scheme was used for the group of social voice use, with normal use of the voice in the home of each participant. The voices were evaluated through an auditory-perceptual assessment by two experienced raters who compared the emissions before and after voice use and determined whether there was improvement, deterioration or similarity between time points. Results Both groups had a higher frequency of similarity between the voices before and after the vocal loading according to the auditory-perceptual evaluation. In subjects with changes in their vocal patterns, roughness was the auditory-perceptual parameter that changed the most for both groups, albeit with a low degree of deviance. Conclusion The social voice use and the professional voice use resulting from the teaching activity, both during two hours and thirty minutes, caused no changes in voice quality as evaluated by auditory-perceptual analysis.

Análise da usabilidade na comunidade Leitores BR do aplicativo Amino / Analysis of usability in BR Readers community of the Amino App

RESUMO : A fase tecnologica 3.0 reflete o tsunami de dados presentes na rede e, por isso, e importante um bom planejamento na organizacao das informacoes nas interfaces. Na literatura, os trabalhos sobre analise de redes sociais investigam o discurso dos enunciados, o comportamento dos membros e a aprendizagem a distância. Nesse contexto, o conceito de usabilidade, como um instrumento de avaliacao da organizacao da informacao no ambiente da navegacao, foi detectado de forma escassa. Esta proposta e um estudo de caso que aborda a usabilidade como instrumento na avaliacao da informacao na comunidade Leitores BR do aplicativo Amino. O delineamento metodologico foi concebido em duas fases. A primeira consistiu na aplicacao do roteiro de interpretacao de redes por Kadushin (2012), versando sobre as categorias de qualidade, de natureza da conexao, de intensidade, de popularidade ou de centralidade, de nomeacao de posicoes e relacoes na hierarquia e de observacao de papeis. A segunda fase, consistiu na aplicacao das diretrizes de boas praticas do Modelo de Acessibilidade em Governo Eletronico (eMAG) nos dados obtidos no estagio anterior, versando sobre: o contexto e a navegacao, a carga de informacao, a autonomia, os erros, o desenho, a redacao e a consistencia e a familiaridade. Resultados revelam que ha requisitos de usabilidade nao contemplados na organizacao da interface, tais como: melhora da intuitividade e da poluicao visual, aprimoramento da organizacao dos textos nas postagens do blog e da visualizacao dos comandos de busca e acesso ao perfil do usuario . PALAVRAS - CHAVE : usabilidade; informacao, redes; comunidade; aplicativo . ABSTRACT : The 3.0 technological scenario reflects the tsunami of data on the Web and, in this panorama, it is important to consider how information is organized in the interface of social network. In literature review, the work on social network analysis investigates the production of discursive practices and enunciations, behavior of members and distance learning. A lack of application of usability was perceived, as a tool to evaluate the organization of information in the navigation environment. This proposal addresses usability as a tool for the evaluation of information in the Amino application BR Readers community. The methodological approach has two stages. The first one is the application of the network interpretation script by Kadushin (2012), that involves the following categories: quality, nature of connection, intensity, popularity or centrality, named positions and relationships, and observed roles . The second one is the application of the guidelines of good practices of the Electronic Government Accessibility Model (eMAG) and involves the following guidelines: context and navigation, level of information, autonomy, errors, design , writing and consistency and familiarity. Results reveal that there are some usability requirements not included in the organization of the interface, such as the lack of intuitiveness and visual pollution, the organization of texts in blog posts and obstacles to visualize search commands and access the user profile . KEYWORDS : usability; information; network; community; app .