Berardi Mark L, Whitling Susanna, Hunter Eric J
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Department of Logopedics Phoniatrics and Audiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 16;15(1):25718. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-10565-2.
Recognizing individual variability is essential for developing targeted, personalized medical interventions. Vocal fatigue is a prevalent symptom and complaint among occupational voice users, but its identification has yielded mixed results. Vocal fatigue is a complex issue with heterogeneous biophysiological responses to vocal demands among individuals. This research aims to classify individuals as vocal demand responders to measure changes in vocal performance consistent with state vocal fatigue. A total of 37 participants (19F, 18M) completed a 30-minute vocal loading task (VLT) which consisted of loud speaking with background noise. Participants provided speech samples pre- and post-VLT and rated their vocal effort levels before, every 5 minutes during, and after the VLT. Perceived effort ratings and measured vocal performance from the speech samples were used to classify participants into distinct subgroups of vocal demand responders. Prior to classification there were few detectable changes associated with the VLT. However, the subgroup with both vocal effort and voice production demand responses displayed significant changes consistent with vocal fatigue while the other subgroups did not. These findings support the need for an individual-based approach to subtyping and measuring vocal fatigue and highlight its heterogeneous nature.
认识到个体差异对于开发有针对性的个性化医疗干预措施至关重要。嗓音疲劳是职业用嗓者中普遍存在的症状和主诉，但其识别结果不一。嗓音疲劳是一个复杂的问题，个体对嗓音需求的生物生理反应存在异质性。本研究旨在将个体分类为嗓音需求反应者，以测量与嗓音疲劳状态一致的嗓音表现变化。共有37名参与者（19名女性，18名男性）完成了一项30分钟的嗓音负荷任务（VLT），该任务包括在背景噪音下大声说话。参与者在VLT前后提供语音样本，并在VLT前、VLT期间每5分钟以及VLT后对自己的嗓音用力程度进行评分。根据语音样本的感知用力评分和测量的嗓音表现，将参与者分类为不同的嗓音需求反应者亚组。在分类之前，与VLT相关的可检测变化很少。然而，既有嗓音用力又有嗓音产生需求反应的亚组显示出与嗓音疲劳一致的显著变化，而其他亚组则没有。这些发现支持了采用基于个体的方法对嗓音疲劳进行分型和测量的必要性，并突出了其异质性。
