Intersystem and interprogram difference in acoustic perturbation measurement: a comparison between MDVP and Praat

Youri Maryn, Paul Corthals, Julie Vanderbeke, Emelie Vanwynsberge, Marc De Bodt, Paul Van Cauwenberge.

Although voice quality measures already have a long history (starting with Lieberman's article in 1963, promoting the measurement of perturbations in voiced signals), they still gain a great amount of clinical and scientific interest. Many computerized analysis systems for measuring voice quality have been developed and there is a plethora of acoustic parameters (Buder, 2000). Two popular voice quality data acquisition systems are the Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP) of Kay Elemetrics and Praat of the Amsterdam Institute of Phonetics. Frequently used parameters are frequency and amplitude perturbation measures (respectively jitter and shimmer). Especially for diagnostic standardization and uniform transfer of data between voice clinics and voice clinicians, it is important that the differences in measuring outcomes between analysis systems are recognized. In this original paper, the intervariability of voice quality measures between MDVP and Praat was investigated. Similar jitter and shimmer measures were analysed with both programs. The corpus of recordings contained mid-vowel segments of a sustained /a/ produced by 50 patients with various voice disorders. All recordings were made in a standardized setting. The following questions were investigated: (a) is there significant correlation in measure outcomes between MDVP and Praat? (b) is there significant difference in measure outcomes between MDVP and Praat? (c) if there is difference, is it possible to propose a correction factor for conversion of data between MDVP and Praat?

Correspondence:
Youri Maryn
Sint-Jan General Hospital
Department of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology
Ruddershove 10
8000 Bruges
Belgium
Tel.: +32 50 452448 Fax: +32 50 452290
E-mail: youri.maryn@azbrugge.be

Youri Maryn, MSc
Sint-Jan General Hospital – Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery – Department of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology – Bruges, Belgium
Paul Corthals, PhD
University College of Ghent – Department of Healthcare ‘Vesalius’ – Ghent, Belgium University of Ghent – Department of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology – Ghent, Belgium
Julie Vanderbeke
Emelie Vanwynsberge
Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende – Department of Healthcare – Bruges, Belgium Marc De Bodt, PhD
University Hospital of Antwerp - Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery – Department of Communication Disorders – Antwerp, Belgium
Paul Van Cauwenberge, PhD
University Hospital of Ghent - Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery – Ghent, Belgium