PERCEPTUAL EVALUATION OF DYSPHONIA - RELIABILITY AND RELEVANCE

A standardized, perceptually based description of hoarseness is of imp ortance for clinical purposes (e.g. therapy evaluation) as well as in research on voice disorders. The reliability and relevance of perceptu al parameters are investigated. The GRBAS scale parameters quite well fit the criteria: low intrajudge and interjudge variance but high inte rvoice variance. The best correlation between judges (0.7) is found fo r the overall grade of severity. Impressions of the asthenic strained voice quality are less consistent, but still show a significant interj udge correlation. The overall grade of severity seems to be mainly det ermined by the component breathiness. Roughness and breathiness are ne gatively correlated with each other. Tonus is correlated neither with roughness nor breathiness. The GRBAS profiles significantly differ bet ween the different pathological groups.