Introducing a new dosimeter for the assessment and monitoring of vocal risk situations and voice disorders

Abstract

Summary: Purpose. There are many physiological parameters recorded by devices that are becoming more affordable, precise and accurate. However, the lack of development in the recording of voice parameters from the physiological or medical point of view is striking, given that it is a fundamental tool for the work of many people and given the high incidence and prevalence of voice pathologies that affect people’s communication. In this paper we perform a complete literature review on the dosimeters used in voice research and to present a pro- totype dosimeter with a pilot study to show its capabilities. Method. We conducted a literature review using the keywords [MONITORING], [PHONATION], [ACCU- MULATOR], [PORTABLE], [DOSIMETRY], [VOICE] searching in PubMed, Trip Database, HONcode, and SciELO search engines. From our review of dosimeter designs, we created our own prototype consisting of two main components: a Knowles Electronics BU-7135-0000 accelerometer mounted on a neck brace; and the ultra- low power MSP430FR5994 microcontroller. The selected sampling frequency was 2048 Hz. The device calculates the F0 every 250 ms and the amplitude and phonation activity every 31.25 ms. A pilot study was conducted using 2 subjects: one male during 11 days and one female during 14 days. Results. This work includes devices that have been created during the last 45 years as tools for the diagnosis and monitoring of the treatment of cases of vocal pathology and for the detection of phonatory patterns or risk situa- tions for developing voice disorders or vocal pathologies. We also present recordings with our new device on the pattern of daily talk time, the fundamental frequency and the relative intensity of two subjects on different days. Conclusions. Interesting work has been done in the development of voice dosimeters with different approaches. In our experience it is not possible to access them for research and they are not yet in clinical use. It is possible that a joint approach with voice and voice disorders professionals and engineers working closely together could take advantage of current technology to develop a fully portable, useful, and efficient system.