Acoustic evaluation and speaker-subjective perception of tracheoesophageal voicing

Voicing of 46 tracheoesophageal male speakers was analyzed acoustically with diverse
parameters, such as the harmonics-to-noise-ratio, maximum phonation time, dynamic range, f0 and amplitude perturbation. The results revealed significant age effects in the amount of jitter and spectral tilt in sustained /a/-vowels, with decreasing steadiness and increasing vocal effort for older speakers. Voicing in speakers with prostheses of 6 mm or shorter was compared to voicing in speakers with prostheses of 10 mm or longer. Speakers with longer prostheses showed significantly less jitter and deviation in intensity. In general, the measurements indicated a better voicing quality and more vocal effort. The speakers’ own ratings of their voice coincided with differences in the acoustic measurements of the sustained /a/ in terms of jitter and periodicity (breaks). Perceived fatigue was reflected in the duration of a read-aloud sentence and by the dB-distance between the speaker’s comfortable and loudest phonation level.