Speech Communication
Call for papers for the Special
Issue on “Advanced Voice
Function Assessment”
Everyday we use our voice to communicate, express emotions and feelings. Voice is
also an important instrument for many professionals like teachers, singers, actors,
lawyers, managers, salesmen etc. Modern style of life has increased the risk of
experiencing some kind of voice alterations. It is believed that around the 19% of the
population suffer or have suffered dysphonic voicing due to some kind of disease or
dysfunction. So there exist a need for new and objective ways to evaluate the quality
of voice, and its connection with vocal folds activity and the complex interaction
between the larynx and the voluntary movements of the articulators (i.e. mouth,
tongue, velum, jaw, etc).
Diagnosis of voice disorders, the screening of vocal and voice diseases (and
particularly their early detection), the objective determination of vocal function
alterations and the evaluation of surgical as well as pharmacological treatments and
rehabilitation, are considered as major goals of the voice function assessment.
Applications of Voice Function Assessment also include control of voice quality for
voice professionals such as teachers, singers, speakers, as well as for the evaluation of
the stress, vocal fatigue and loading, etc. Although the state of the art reports
significant achievements in understanding the voice production mechanism and in
assessing voice quality, there is a continuous need for improving the existing models
of the normal and pathological voice source to analyse healthy and pathological
voices. This special issue aims at offering an interdisciplinary platform for presenting
new knowledge in the field of models and analysis of voice signals in conjunction
with videoendoscopic images with applications in occupational, pathological, and
oesophageal voices. The scope of the special issue includes all aspects of voice
modelling and analysis, ranging from fundamental research to all kind of biomedical
applications and related established and advanced technologies. Original, previously
unpublished submissions are encouraged within the following scope of topics:
- Databases of voice disorders
- Robust analysis of pathological and oesophageal voices
- Inverse filtering for voice function assessment
- Automatic detection of voice disorders from voice and speech
- Automatic assessment and classification of voice quality
- Multi-modal analysis of disordered speech (voice, speech, vocal folds images
using videolaryngoscopy, videokymography, fMRI and other emerging
techniques)
- New strategies for parameterization and modelling normal and pathological voices
(e.g. biomechanical-based parameters, chaos modelling, etc)
- Signal processing to support the remote diagnosis
- Assessment of voice quality in rehabilitation
- Speech enhancement for pathological and oesophageal speech
- Technical aids and hands-free devices: vocal prostheses and aids for disabled
- Non-speech vocal emissions (e.g. infant cry, cough and snoring)
- Relationship between speech and neurological dysfunctions (e.g. epilepsy, autism,
schizophrenia, stress etc.)
- Computer-based diagnostic and training systems for speech dysfunctions
Composition and Review Procedures
The emphasis of this special issue is on both basic and applied research related to
evaluation of voice quality and diagnosis schemes, as well as in the results of voice
treatments. The submissions received for this Special Issue of Speech Communication on
Advanced Voice Function Assessment will undergo the normal review process.
Guest Editors
• Juan I. Godino-Llorente, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain,
igodino@ics.upm.es
• Yannis Stylianou, University of Crete, Greece, yannis@csd.uoc.gr
• Philippe H. DeJonckere, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands,
ph.dejonckere@umcutrecht.nl
• Pedro Gómez-Vilda, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain,
pedro@pino.datsi.fi.upm.es
Important Dates
Deadline for submission: June, 15th, 2010.
First Notification: September 15th, 2010.
Revisions Ready: October 30st, 2010
Final Notification: November, 30th, 2010
Final papers ready: December, 30th, 2010
Tentative publication date: January, 30th, 2011
Submission Procedure
Prospective authors should follow the regular guidelines of the Speech Communication
Journal for electronic submission (http://ees.elsevier.com/specom). During submission
authors must select the Section “Special Issue Paper”, not “Regular Paper”, and the title
of the special issue should be referenced in the “Comments” (Special Issue on Advanced
Voice Function Assessment) page along with any other information