Kutor John Author

Short Communication Open Access

Speech Signal Analysis as an Alternative to Spirometry in Asthma Diagnosis

Author(s):

Kutor John

Speech production involves the vibration of the vocal cords. Voice changes will however occur in asthma due to the inflamed lung airways. Spirometry is a well-known technique employed in the diagnosis of asthma to give information on patient pulmonary function. The purpose of this research was to investigate the correlation between FEV1 /FVC (Forced Expiratory Volume to Forced Vital Capacity) ratio obtained from spirometry and Harmonics-to-Noise Ratio (HNR) obtained from human speech, in order to determine whether speech analysis could be an alternative to spirometry in diagnosing asthma. Spirometry data was obtained from 150 subjects, who were asthmatic patients attending the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Speech data consisting of the vowel sounds /a:/, /e:/, /ε:/, /i:/, /... view more»

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