Clin Exp Otorhinolaryngol.  2016 Jun;9(2):157-162. 10.21053/ceo.2015.00199.

Cepstral Analysis of Voice in Patients With Thyroidectomy

• Shin YJ
• Hong KH

• KMID: 2165059
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.21053/ceo.2015.00199

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The vocal changes after a thyroidectomy are temporary and nonsevere, therefore, obtaining accurate analytical results on the pathological vocal characteristics following such a procedure is difficult. For a more objective acoustic analysis, this study used the cepstral analysis method to examine changes in the patients' voices during the perioperative period regarding sustained vowel phonation.
METHODS
The sustained phonation of the five vowels (i.e., /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/) by 35 patients with thyroidectomy were recorded by using a Multi-Speech program. Of the 35 patients, 10 were men and 25 were women, with an average age of 51.5 years. Voice data were collected a total of 3 times (preoperatively, 5-7 days after the operation, and 6 weeks after the operation) and were edited according to each fragment (on-set, mid, and off-set) for cepstral analysis.
RESULTS
The cepstral analysis on the patients' voices revealed no significant differences between the examination periods of all vowel phonations. However, analysis of the on-set fragment of the vowel /i/ revealed pathological characteristics in which the cepstral measurements of the voice were significantly lower after the operation than before the operation, with the cepstral measurements of the voice increasing further 6 weeks following surgery.
CONCLUSION
The results of the acoustic analysis on the on-set fragment of the vowel /i/ will be important data for characterizing the vocal changes during the perioperative period. This study contributes to future research on the mechanisms underlying changes in the voice of patients with a history of thyroid or neck surgery.

Keyword

Thyroidectomy; Cepstral Analysis; Voice

MeSH Terms

Acoustics
Female
Humans
Male
Methods
Neck
Perioperative Period
Phonation
Thyroid Gland
Thyroidectomy*
Voice*

Figure

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  Fig. 1. An example of cepstral analysis by using the Multi-Speech program.

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  Fig. 2. Cepstral measurements of on-set fragment on each vowel by period.

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  Fig. 3. Bonferoni post hoc result on on-set fragment of vowel /i/. *Significant difference (P<0.05).

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