Profiles of fundamental frequency sound pressure levels and voice dura
tion are measured separately in clinical practice. It was the aim of t
he present study to combine the two examinations, in order to estimate
the relationship between pitch, sound pressure level and voice durati
on and to develop a new computer-assisted graph. A three-dimensional (
3D) wireframe phonogram was constructed based on SPL profiles to obtai
n a general view of the parameters recorded. We have termed this ''pho
netography''. Variable further projections were selected for the analy
sis of different aspects of parametric relationships. The results in 2
1 healthy volunteers and 4 patients with hyperfunctional dysphonias de
monstrated that there were three typical figures of the 3D phonograms
produced, depending on the relationship between voice duration when so
ft (''piano'') compared to loud (''forte''). In one-third of the healt
hy volunteers, the values of the piano voice duration were greater tha
n those of forte for almost all pitches examined. In two-thirds of the
healthy subjects the values of forte voice duration were partly great
er, as were those of piano voice duration. All of the patients showed
voice duration values greater for forte than for piano. The results of
the study demonstrate that the 3D phonogram is a useful tool for obta
ining new insights into various relationships of voice parameters.