ISCA Archive Interspeech 2007
ISCA Archive Interspeech 2007

Effect of intensive voice therapy on vocal tremor for parkinson speakers

Laurence Cnockaert, Jean Schoentgen, Canan Ozsancak, Pascal Auzou, Francis Grenez

The effect of intensive voice therapy (Lee Silverman Voice Treatment, LSVT) on vocal tremor features of Parkinson speakers is presented. Vocal tremor is the low-frequency variation of the vocal frequency. Its features differ for Parkinson and normophonic speakers. Here, vocal tremor features have been estimated for a corpus of speakers with Parkinson's disease, recorded before and after intensive voice therapy. Results show that the treatment has significant effects on vocal tremor amplitude: Vocal tremor amplitude has decreased right after treatment. After six month, it has increased again, but is still lower than before treatment.