Efeito imediato dos exercícios vocais sobre as medidas de fonte e filtro

Abstract

Introduction: Vocal production brings with it particularities that encompass physiological, emotional and behavioral aspects. Changes in this production may affect vocal quality, impairing communication and impacting the individual's life. It is known that vocal production involves adjustments made at the level of glottic source and vocal tract. The rehabilitation process aims at vocal production with minimum effort and maximum efficiency through vocal techniques. Objective: To verify the immediate effect of vocal exercises on perceptual and acoustic measurements related to the source and filter in women with vocal nodules and women who are vocally healthy. Methodology: 144 vocal samples from 24 women aged 18 to 65 years were selected, 12 of them with vocal nodules, allocated in an experimental group (EG) and 12 without vocal alteration, allocated in a control group (CG). These samples were taken from a database developed at the Integrated Speech Studies Laboratory (LIEV) of the Speech Therapy Department (UFPB) and corresponded to the sustained emission of the vowel / a / in six recording moments: pre-exercise recording (M0), recording after one minute of exercise (M1), recording after two minutes of exercise (M2), recording after three minutes of exercise (M3), recording after four minutes of exercise (M4) and recording after the fifth minute of exercise execution (M5). The vocal techniques were performed as follows for the EG and CG: 8 women performed the tongue vibration exercise; 10 women performed exercise with high resistance straw; and 6 performed over-articulation exercise, with half corresponding to each group. For the acoustic analysis, measurements were used to evaluate glottal source such as: perturbation and noise measures - mean fundamental frequency (f0), standard deviation of f0 (SD f0), jitter, shimmer, GNE and cepstral CPPS measurement; as well as measures that investigate filter: spectral measurements of the differences of the harmonics H1-H2 (dB) and formantics F1 and F2. For perceptual analysis, an analog-visual scale (VAS) was used. Results: Women with vocal nodules presented a differentiated filter adjustment (vocal tract) of the CG, with a reduction in the values of the formant F1 and F2, higher values for the measures of amplitude disturbance (shimmer) and for the perceptual measurements in the degree parameters. general roughness and breathiness. In the 4th minute of the exercise with high resistance straw they presented changes in noise measurement (GNE). In the 5th minute of the tongue sound vibration exercise they presented F2 reduction and in the 5th minute of the over-articulation exercise they showed GNE reduction. In contrast, vocally healthy women had filter changes in the 3rd minute of high-resistance straw exercise, with an increase in F1 values, as well as an increase in f0 average in the 5th minute of over-articulation exercise. Conclusion: These findings suggest that women with vocal nodules present more deviated voices with predominance of breathy vocal quality and reduced mouth opening. They presented glottal source modifications with better effect at the 4th minute, and filter measurements at the 5th minute. In contrast, vocally healthy women had better filter changes at 3 minutes and source changes at 5 minutes.