Voice analysis

Voice analysis is the study of speech sounds for purposes other than linguistic content, such as in speech recognition. Such studies include mostly medical analysis of the voice (phoniatrics), but also speaker identification. More controversially, some believe that the truthfulness or emotional state of speakers can be determined using Voice Stress Analysis or Layered Voice Analysis.

Typical voice problems

A medical study of the voice can be, for instance, analysis of the voice of patients who have had a polyp removed from their vocal cords through an operation. Objective evaluation of voice quality improvement requires some way to measure of voice quality. An experienced voice therapist can quite reliably evaluate the voice, but this requires extensive training and is still subjective.

Another active research topic in medical voice analysis is vocal loading evaluation. The vocal cords of a person who speaks for an extended time suffer from tiring—that is, the process of speaking exerts a load on the vocal cords and tires the tissue. Among professional voice users (e.g., teachers, sales people) this tiring can cause voice failures and sick leaves. To evaluate these problems, vocal loading must be objectively measured.