Nasality – Nasalance

lingWAVES Nasality is a new high technology module within the lingWAVES voice and speech system for professional users. It is non-invasive and measures and gives feedback about the presence of nasality in speech production. It measures the degree of velo­pha­ryn­geal opening during voiced speech – also known as nasalance.

New Mask System

Compared to other traditional systems which have some form of plate separation between the mouth and nose, lingWAVES Nasality uses a new dual wall cushion nose mask with a lightweight durable flexitube for a higher acoustic separation between nose and mouth signal. It also uses an Nasalance improved nasalance measurement algorithm.

lingWAVES Nasality with real time biofeedback display of nasalance. The norm data levels for nasalance can easily be adjusted for users depending on individual language and clinical needs.d

The lingWAVES Nasality mask is simple and intuitive for patients to fit and comfortable to wear with an under-eye frame providing a clear line of sight. Self-aligning easy click clips secure the headgear easily. A removable cushion can be easily cleaned af-ter each session and is available for different nose sizes.

Nasalance Measure & Display

The insufficiency of velopharyngeal closure during vowels and sonorants that causes nasal resonance can be estimated and displayed for evaluation or biofeedback in speech training of the nasalance of the voice, with nasalance defined as a ratio of acoustic energy at the nares or nostrils to that at the mouth. lingWAVES Nasality offers both real time biofeedback and measurement and display of pre-post trends.

This picture shows a client’s reading of a standard text with a higher degree of velopharyngeal opening. Colored label in time signal show the occurrence of nasalance. The results for the automatic nasalance calculation of the recent session as well as trend of different sessions can be seen at the bottom.

Biofeedback

After starting the module, users can dis-play clients’ nasalance level in real time represented by colored bar graph and sagittal head view for biofeedback exercises. This gives an clear and intuitive display for moni-toring velopharyngeal activity during speech.

Measurement & Trend

By switching to a measurement/trend dis-play, users are able to record clients’ speech (e.g. syllable/word repetitions, passages, SNAP test for kids or any other internationally used standardized speech norm data). The application automatically calculates an instant. easily interpretable and objective nasalance score for the whole recording or manually labeled parts of it. The nasal signal can be played back for clinical assessment.

SNAP test procedure. Record all repetitions, prolonged sounds, picture-cued subtest and reading passages in one session and easily measure nasalance for your protocol.

Compared to other tools on the market, lingWAVES Nasality is created for international use – nasalance level can be set for language/country specific norms.

Hi-fi Recording Hardware

lingWAVES Nasality includes a nose mask with high quality recording hardware for best and most reliable analysis results. A hi-fi USB sound interface with two Lavalier microphones ensures best recordings.

Sample

Reading passage with high degree of nasalization based on a standard text.

Reading passage with mixed oral-nasal sounds

Reading passage without any nasal sounds.

At a Glance

lingWAVES Nasality:

• Non-invasive therapy and feedback tool
• New innovative mask system with higher separation of oral/nasal signal than comparable systems
• Mask fits comfortably on patients face, easy cleaning, no unnatural separator plate
• Hi-Fi recording hardware with USB connector
• Real time display for oral and nasal (nasalance) acoustic signal
• Animated graphics showing oral/nasal flow
• Language independent standard text assessment procedure for nasalance measure
• Trend analysis, pre-post assessment shows patient’s progress during therapy, surgery or fitting
• Simple and intuitive handling, user manual and graphic user interface
• Integrated module in lingWAVES system
• All measurements and analyses can be printed for filing. Printed reports contain information on patients and institutions supplying the service.

lingWAVES Nasality is available as single product or upgrade for other suites.

• Download product sheet (3 MB – PDF)

System Requirements

• OS: Windows 10
  ( Mac OS with Boot Camp and installed Windows OS 10)
• Hardware: min. Core i5, min. 8 GB RAM (recommended 16 GB RAM, min.16 GB RAM for video modules[strobo/endo/FEES]), 500 GB hard disk space for data (smartENDOSTROBO 1TB – external USB 3.0 hard disk possible), loudspeaker, 1 – 2 x USB (smartENDOSTROBO powered USB recommended)

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