Relationship of Cepstral Peak Prominence-Smoothed and Long-Term Average Spectrum with Auditory–Perceptual Analysis

• Main Authors: Angélica Emygdio da Silva Antonetti, Larissa Thais Donalonso Siqueira, Maria Paula de Almeida Gobbo, Alcione Ghedini Brasolotto, Kelly Cristina Alves Silverio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: acoustic signal processing; speech signal processing; voice quality; communication; dysphonia; auditory–perceptual analysis
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/23/8598

Cepstral peak prominence-smoothed (CPPs) and long-term average spectrum (LTAS) are robust measures that represent the glottal source and source-filter interactions, respectively. Until now, little has been known about how physiological events impact auditory–perceptual characteristics in the objective measures of CPPs and LTAS (alpha ratio; L1–L0). Thus, this paper aims to analyze the relationship between such acoustic measures and auditory–perceptual analysis and then determine which acoustic measure best represents voice quality. We analyzed 53 voice samples of vocally healthy participants (vocally healthy group-VHG) and 49 voice samples of participants with behavioral dysphonia (dysphonic group-DG). Each voice sample was composed of sustained vowel /a/ and connected speech. CPPs seem to be the best predictor of voice deviation in both studied populations because there was moderate to strong negative correlations with general degree, breathiness, roughness, and strain (auditory–perceptual parameters). Regarding L1–L0, this measure is related to breathiness (moderate negative correlations). Hence, L1–L0 provides information about air leak through closed glottis, assisting the phonatory efficiency analysis.