Usefulness of Direct Magnitude Estimation in Auditory Perceptual Assessments for Measuring Dysphonia Severity, Roughness, and Breathiness.

OBJECTIVES

The purposes of this study were (1) to analyze the reliability of direct magnitude estimation (DME) scales in auditory perceptual assessments measuring three dimensions of voice quality (dysphonia severity, roughness, and breathiness) and (2) to analyze the usefulness of DME scales in comparison to that of numerical rating scales (NRS).

STUDY

DESIGN

Three speech language pathologists perceptually evaluated three dimensions of voice quality (dysphonia severity, roughness, and breathiness) from connected speech samples produced by 124 participants with dysphonia. Two auditory perceptual assessments using two scales (DME and NRS) were performed. The reliabilities of auditory perceptual assessments were analyzed, and correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between the two scales.

RESULTS

DME and NRS were found to have high reliability for auditory perceptual assessments and there was a significant curvilinear relationship between NRS and DME. This indicates that a prosthetic continuum represents the three dimensions of voice quality and suggests that DME scales should be used to measure three dimensions of voice quality to avoid the linear partitioning related to NRS scales.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study supports the use of DME scales when judging the three dimensions of voice quality (dysphonia severity, roughness, and breathiness) for dysphonic patients.