Acoustic characteristics of vowel sounds in patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

The aim of the present study was to investigate the difference between measured spectral and cepstral values of normal adults and those of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) speakers in Korea. Subjects were 8 women with ALS and 20 normal women with no difficulty in physical activities as control group. As the result of independent t-test, measured spectral and cepstral value had significant difference in F0, SPI, jitter, NHR, CPP, L/H ratio, and mean CPP F0 between groups (p<0.05). ALS had higher score of jitter, shimmer and NHR which reflect voice quality than normal adults due to weakening of respiratory and vocalization muscles.