# Toward standardizing perceptual voice quality measures

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2020 · $602,831

## Abstract

In general, speakers phonate in order to convey information (linguistic or paralinguistic; intentionally or
unintentionally) to a listener. The stages of transmitting information in this way can be described by the well-
known “speech chain.” We presently know a good deal about the individual steps along the chain, including
motor planning, laryngeal innervation, tissue properties, the biomechanics of laryngeal vibrations,
aeroacoustics, acoustics and resonance, and voice perception. However, very few studies address the manner
in which information is transmitted from one stage to the next, much less from one end of this chain to the
other. As a result, two important questions about voice remain unanswered: 1) When voice quality changes in
some way, what caused the change? and 2) If a change occurs in the voice production mechanism, what will
be the resulting perceived change in quality? In our view, these two questions define the primary goals of the
study of voice. By combining computational modeling of voice production and acoustic and perceptual
analyses of voice quality, this proposal addresses these critical questions in a series of studies designed 1) to
complete final development of a theoretically-motivated measurement protocol for voice quality that enables
users to reliably and validly assess the overall, integral quality of a voice; and 2) to develop a causal model
linking changes in voice acoustics and quality to underlying physiologic mechanisms. Finally, we will
investigate how changes in psychoacoustic or physiologic parameters relate to the extent to which a voice
deviates from normal, in a better-to-worse continuum. Such information would facilitate objective and
meaningful comparisons across individual patients and clinicians in evaluation and documentation of treatment
efficacy, and would begin to provide explanations for the physical origins of particular quality disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9852302
- **Project number:** 5R01DC001797-27
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** JODY E KREIMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $602,831
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1992-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9852302

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9852302, Toward standardizing perceptual voice quality measures (5R01DC001797-27). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9852302. Licensed CC0.

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