Some acoustical features of the cry and speech signals in infants with epilepsy

This paper shows some acoustic parameters in time and frequency domains obtained by digital processing of infant cry data and others. The data consists in several pre-speech and speech signal of 6 children affected by Epilepsy in the Neurology Service of the Southern Children Hospital. Several ages and both sexes are considered. The samples were taken in both ways, using spontaneous form and synchronized form, by an AKAI PM-R55 tape recorder, and digitized by IBM Microcomputer with the PCVOX A/D acquisition and processing system. A speech-oriented database (BPVOZ) is also used for the infant cry, pre-speech and speech analysis. Some alterations in the parameter behaviors, mainly that’s concerned with the Fundamental Frequency, are present in the results. It is remarked the importance of to consider all these acoustics attributes in the qualitative and quantitative order as an information of highest interest in order to help in the description and analysis of this kind of neurological disorder, as well as in the follow up of these cases. This work was developed by members of the Voice Processing Group of the University of Oriente joined to the people from the Neurology Service of Southern Children Hospital of Santiago de Cuba.