NSDA Award

The Voice Foundation presents The NSDA Research Award

The NSDA Award shall be awarded by the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (NSDA) and The Voice Foundation. The Award Committee shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Board of The Voice Foundation. This award is for outstanding contribution to new research related to spasmodic dysphonia and related voice conditions including muscle tension dysphonia and vocal tremor.

Congratulations! The 2019 winner is Dr. Anke Ziethe, Germany, for the research paper:

Analysis and Training of Feedback Mechanisms for Phonation and Speech in Patients with Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD

ntroduction: The analysis of the processes underlying auditory feedback during phonation and speech can be investigated by the pitch-shift reflex (PSR). The PSR is the adjustment of the pitch during phonation/speech in response to a spontaneous pitch change of the auditory feedback. In former studies we analyzed the PSR in normal voices during phonation and speech. With this study we determined the auditory as well as kinesthetic feedback mechanisms of patients with MTD during phonation and speech via the acoustic- , Elektroencephalography (EEG)- and High-Speed Video (HSE) signal.Methods:20 subjects with normal voices and 20 subjects with MTD underwent transnasal HSE (8000fps) during sustained phonation [a] and articulation of the disyllabic word [‘mama]. While phonating or articulating, the auditory feedback was pitched up for 700 cents, lasting 300ms. Voice response pitch changes, event-related potentials and voice onset parameters from the video signal were determined and analyzed. Statistical analyses were applied to compare feedback mechanisms during pitched and un-pitched condition of the phonation paradigm and speech paradigm within/between both groups. Results and conclusion: The results do not show any differences between both groups regarding the latency of the pitch perception (latency of the N100 (EEG), MMN (EEG)) and the latency of the voice response. However, the magnitude of the voice response was significantly different during phonation and speech in comparison with the normal voices (p=.046). A shorter prephonatory process was obvious but without statistical significance. Due to the results, the first version of a training of the auditory and kinesthetic feedback process will be developed and presented.

Anke Ziethe, PhD, Research assistant, Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology at the, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck surgery, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Waldstr. 1, 91054 Erlangen, Germany

Ulrich Hoppe, PhD, Professor, CICERO – Cochlear Implant Centrum, Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Waldstr. 1, 91054 Erlangen, Germany

Christopher Bohr, MD, Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck surgery, Universitätsklinikum Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg,

Michael Döllinger, PhD, Professor, Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology, Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head & Neck surgery, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Waldstr.1,