Miniature head-mounted microphone for voice perturbation analysis.

The miniature head-mounted microphone has become the microphone of choice in clinics, laboratories, and professional work settings where voice amplification or recording is needed and subject mobility is desirable. In this study, a miniature head-mounted condenser microphone was compared to a larger, professional grade stand-mounted condenser microphone for perturbation analysis. Amplitude and frequency perturbation measures of human phonation were made for comparison. The results indicate that only small differences exist between the two microphones. The only exception is when there is significant head movement, in which case the head-mounted microphone offers an advantage. Errors associated with variable source-to-microphone distance can therefore be reduced without losing baseline quality in transducing voice signals for analysis.