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A New Harmonics to Noise Ratio Method

Eiji Yumoto, MD

Arch Otolaryngol. 1983;109(1):48-52.

Abstract
• As the degree of judged hoarseness increases, the noise component appears to a greater degree and replaces the harmonic structure in the spectrogram. The relationship between these two components has been quantified as the harmonics to noise (H/N) ratio. The computation is straightforward; 50 consecutive pitch periods of a sustained vowel /a/ are averaged; H is the energy of the average waveform, while N is the mean energy of the differences between the individual periods and the average waveform. Therefore, the H/N ratio could be measured in the clinic with the aid of a small, inexpensive computer. This H/N ratio was successfully applied for evaluating the effectiveness of the treatments for hoarseness. Although the H/N ratio does not aid in making a diagnosis of laryngeal abnormality, it would be an important tool for assessing hoarseness.

(Arch Otolaryngol 1983;109:48-52)

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Ehime University, Ehime, Japan.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication July 16, 1982.

Reprint requests to Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Ehime University, Shigenobu-cho, Onsen-gun, Ehime, 791-02, Japan (Dr Yumoto).

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