Voice Care - A low-cost Platform for Monitoring Voice Professionals

For voice professionals, erroneous vocal behavior or changing in the voice ​ ​ production due to poor acoustics in the environment where the voice ​ ​ is used, can be investigated through recently developed voice monitoring ​ ​ devices. These devices are portable data-logger that use a miniature accelerometer ​ ​ glued to the jugular notch as a sensor of the skin acceleration ​ ​ level due to the vibration of the vocal folds. They estimate the SPL at ​ ​ a certain distance from the speaker’s mouth as a result of a calibration. ​ ​ Other provided parameters are the fundamental frequency and the time ​ ​ dose. Uncertainty specifications are not always available and the cost is in ​ ​ some cases prohibitive for a large monitoring campaign. The low-cost platform ​ ​ ”Voice Care” is proposed in this contribution, that includes a wearable ​ data-logger and a processing program that allows the vocal parameters to be extracted from the recorded signal. The data-logger is equipped with a​ ​ contact microphone as a phonation sensor. Suitable calibration procedures​ ​ are implemented for the estimated parameters and their effectiveness ​ is shown through specifically conceived experimental tests. Uncertainties​ ​ are estimated and experimental results are reported that refer to the normal​ ​ use of the device during monitoring interval of several hours in university​​ classrooms.