Cepstral Peak Prominence: A More Reliable Measure of Dysphonia

TLDR

Voice assessment relies on perceptual quantification, yet traditional acoustic metrics such as jitter, shimmer, and NHR are often unreliable, whereas cepstral peak prominence (CPP) shows promise as a more dependable dysphonia predictor. The study analyzed voice recordings from 281 patients, extracting NHR, amplitude perturbation quotient, smoothed pitch perturbation quotient, percent jitter, and CPP from sustained vowels, and CPP from running speech, then defining normal and abnormal CPP thresholds and comparing them to other acoustic metrics. CPP measured during running speech proved to be a superior and more reliable dysphonia predictor than jitter, shimmer, and NHR.

Abstract

Quantification of perceptual voice characteristics allows the assessment of voice changes. Acoustic measures of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR) are often unreliable. Measures of cepstral peak prominence (CPP) may be more reliable predictors of dysphonia. Trained listeners analyzed voice samples from 281 patients. The NHR, amplitude perturbation quotient, smoothed pitch perturbation quotient, percent jitter, and CPP were obtained from sustained vowel phonation, and the CPP was obtained from running speech. For the first time, normal and abnormal values of CPP were defined, and they were compared with other acoustic measures used to predict dysphonia. The CPP for running speech is a good predictor and a more reliable measure of dysphonia than are acoustic measures of jitter, shimmer, and NHR.