Victoria McKenna

University of Central Florida | UCF

Purpose Voice and swallowing are distinct functions that share anatomical and physiological properties; however, research investigating their intersection is limited. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the literature surrounding the relationship between voice and swallowing measures in healthy adults and those with non-degenerative d...

Purpose The aim of this study was to explore the gap between the need for gender-affirming voice and communication services (GAVCS) and insurance coverage within one state. Method An electronic, cross-sectional survey of transgender/gender-diverse (TGD) adults assessed the incidence of insurance and cost barriers to GAVCS. Then, policies from 22 m...

Objective Despite gender-affirming laryngological services (GALS; eg, voice therapy or surgery) being available nationwide, there is a discrepancy between the number of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people with vocal incongruence and those who pursue services. Primary care is an important setting for accessing gender-affirming care, includin...

Objective: The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between temporal and spectral-based acoustic measures derived using Praat and custom smartphone algorithms across patients with a wide range of vocal pathologies. Methods: Voice samples were collected from 56 adults (11 vocally healthy, 45 dysphonic, aged 18-80 years) performing...

Objective: Vocal Combat Technique (VCT) teaches indirect and direct behavioral voice techniques to voice-over artists performing in violent video games. Although previous work on VCT has shown promise for mitigating dysphonia symptoms, a randomized clinical trial has yet to be undertaken. Therefore, we completed a randomized, controlled trial betw...

Smartphone technology has been used for at-home health monitoring, but there are few available applications (apps) for tracking acoustic measures of voice for those with chronic voice problems. Current apps limit the user by restricting the range of smartphone positions to those that are unnatural and non-interactive. Therefore, we aimed to underst...

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate factors related to treatment attendance for patients seeking gender-affirming voice therapy (GAVT). Method We completed retrospective chart reviews of 50 patients (43 transgender women, three transgender men, four nonbinary patients; aged 18–67 years, M = 34.92 years, SD = 12.32 years) referre...

Purpose: This study examined the speech acoustic characteristics of Jamaican Creole (JC) and English in bilingual preschoolers and adults using acoustic duration measures. The aims were to determine if, for JC and English, (a) child and adult acoustic duration characteristics differ, (b) differences occur in preschoolers' duration patterns based o...

No PDF available ABSTRACT With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers are now required to wear face masks throughout the day. However, masks impact communication by creating a barrier to sound. Our previous studies show that masks attenuate mid-to-high-range frequency content and reduce vowel articulatory space. Mask-wearing healt...

No PDF available ABSTRACT With the advent of smartphone technology, there has been an increase in at-home health monitoring. Yet, there are few applications (apps) available to track voice acoustics for those with voice disorders. Therefore, we completed two investigations into the acquisition and processing of the acoustic signal to help develop a...

Relative fundamental frequency (RFF) is an acoustic measure that characterizes changes in voice fundamental frequency during voicing transitions. Despite showing promise as an indicator of vocal disorder and laryngeal muscle tension, the clinical adoption of RFF remains challenging, partly due to a lack of research integration. As such, this review...

Purpose The aim of this study was to characterize speech acoustics in bilingual preschoolers who speak Jamaican Creole (JC) and English. We compared a standard approach with a culturally responsive approach for characterizing speech sound productions. Preschoolers' speech productions were compared to adult models from the same linguistic community...

Objective to investigate how the Vocal Combat Technique (VCT) may mitigate vocal symptoms in voice over actors using vocal violence. Methods Five voice over actors (3 male, 2 females, Mean = 29.6 years) completed two study sessions of 45 minutes-to-1 hour of vocally violent voice over work held approximately 4 weeks apart. During session one, part...

Objective To develop educational modules to improve vocal wellness and optimize communication in mask-wearing occupational voice users. Methods Module development focused on identifying accurate, understandable, and actionable steps to improve vocal wellness in the workplace. We i) interviewed eight voice-specialized speech-language pathologists a...

Objectives/hypothesis: We investigated speech acoustics and self-reported vocal symptoms in mask-wearing healthcare professionals. We hypothesized that there would be an attenuation of spectral energies and increase in vocal effort during masked speech compared to unmasked speech. Study design: Within and between subject quasi-experimental desig...

Objective We evaluated voice acoustics and self-perceptual ratings in healthcare workers required to wear face masks throughout their workday. Methods Eighteen subjects (11 cisgender female, 7 cisgender male; M = 33.72 years, SD = 8.30) completed self-perceptual ratings and acoustic recordings before and after a typical workday. Chosen measures we...

Methods for automating relative fundamental frequency (RFF)-an acoustic estimate of laryngeal tension-rely on manual identification of voiced/unvoiced boundaries from acoustic signals. This study determined the effect of incorporating features derived from vocal fold vibratory transitions for acoustic boundary detection. Simultaneous microphone and...

Purpose The goal of this study was to explore the relationships among vocal effort, extrinsic laryngeal muscle activity, and vocal tract length (VTL) within healthy speakers. We hypothesized that increased vocal effort would result in increased suprahyoid muscle activation and decreased VTL, as previously observed in individuals with vocal hyperfun...

Purpose This study examined vocal hyperfunction (VH) using voice onset time (VOT). We hypothesized that speakers with VH would produce shorter VOTs, indicating increased laryngeal tension, and more variable VOTs, indicating disordered vocal motor control. Method We enrolled 32 adult women with VH (aged 20–74 years) and 32 age- and sex-matched cont...

Purpose This study evaluated the accuracy of respiratory calibration methods for estimating lung volume during speech breathing. Method Respiratory kinematic data were acquired via inductance plethysmography in 32 young adults, 22 older adults, and 13 older adults with Parkinson's disease (PD). Raw rib cage (RC) and abdomen (AB) signals (V) were c...

Objective Prephonatory vocal fold angle trajectories may supply useful information about the laryngeal system but were examined in previous studies using sigmoidal curves fit to data collected at 30 frames per second (fps). Here, high-speed videoendoscopy (HSV) was used to investigate the impacts of video frame rate and sigmoidal fitting strategy o...

Purpose This study aimed to examine the relationship between a large set of hypothesized physiological measures of vocal effort and self-ratings of vocal effort. Method Twenty-six healthy adults modulated speech rate and vocal effort during repetitions of the utterance /ifi/, followed by self-perceptual ratings of vocal effort on a visual analog s...

The purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate voice and speech changes in one healthy 30-year-old transgender male undergoing testosterone therapy for transition. Testing occurred at three timepoints before cross-sex hormone therapy and every 2 weeks thereafter for 1 year. Data collected included measures of acoustics, aerodynamics, and...

Excessive vocal effort is a common clinical voice symptom, yet the acoustical manifestation of vocal effort and how that is perceived by speakers and listeners has not been fully elucidated. Here, 26 vocally healthy adults increased vocal effort during the production of the utterance /ifi/, followed by self-ratings of effort on a 100 mm visual anal...

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between the magnitude of neck-surface vibration (NSVMag; transduced with an accelerometer) and intraoral estimates of subglottal pressure (P'sg) during variations in vocal effort at 3 intensity levels. Method: Twelve vocally healthy adults produced strings of /pɑ/ syllables in 3 vocal intensity condi...

Purpose: This systematic review summarizes the effects of isometric lingual strength training on lingual strength and swallow function in adult populations. Furthermore, it evaluates the designs of the reviewed studies and identifies areas of future research in isometric lingual strength training for dysphagia remediation. Method: A comprehensiv...

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between the acoustic measure relative fundamental frequency (RFF) and a kinematic estimate of laryngeal stiffness. Method: Twelve healthy adults (mean age = 22.7 years, SD = 4.4; 10 women, 2 men) produced repetitions of /ifi/ while varying their vocal effort during simultaneous acoustic and video nas...

Objectives: Vocal loading tasks provide insight regarding the mechanisms underlying healthy laryngeal function. Determining the manner in which the larynx can most efficiently be loaded is a complex task. The goal of this study was to determine if vocal loading could be achieved in 30 minutes by altering phonatory mode. Owing to the fact that surf...

Vocal fold movements differ between individuals with typical voices and those with voice disorders associated with increased laryngeal stiffness. Modeling suggests that changes in vocal fold kinematics correspond to changes in laryngealmuscle stiffness. In this study, 12 healthy adults produced repetitions of /ifi/ while varying their self-perceive...