Acoustic Analysis of Voluntary Coughs, Throat Clearings, and Induced Reflexive Coughs in a Healthy Population.

Publisher: Springer-Verlag Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 8610856 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1432-0460 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0179051X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Dysphagia Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: New York : Springer-Verlag, [c1986-

Cough*/etiology ; Deglutition Disorders*; Humans ; Pharynx ; Acoustics

Cough efficacy is considered a reliable predictor of the aspiration risk in head and neck cancer patients with radiation-associated dysphagia. Currently, coughing is assessed perceptually or aerodynamically. The goal of our research is to develop methods of acoustic cough analysis. In this study, we examined in a healthy population the acoustical differences between three protective maneuvers: voluntary cough, voluntary throat clearing, and induced reflexive cough. Forty healthy participants were included in this study. Voluntary cough, voluntary throat clearing, and reflexive cough samples were recorded and analyzed acoustically. Temporal acoustic features were the following: the slope and curvature of the amplitude contour, as well as the average, slope, and curvature of the sample entropy and kurtosis contours of the recorded signal. Spectral features were the relative energy in the frequency bands (0-400 Hz, 400-800 Hz, 800-1600 Hz, 1600 Hz-3200 Hz, > 3200 Hz) as well as the weighted spectral energy. Results showed that, compared to a voluntary cough, a throat clearing starts with a weaker onset pulse and involves oscillations from the onset to the offset (concave curvature of the amplitude contour, p < 0.05), lower average (p < 0.05), and slope (p < 0.05) as well as lower convex curvature (p < 0.05) of the kurtosis contour. An induced reflexive cough starts with a higher and briefer onset burst and includes higher frication noise (larger convexity of the curvature of the amplitude and kurtosis contours (p < 0.05)) compared to a voluntary cough. The conclusion is that voluntary coughs are acoustically significantly different from voluntary throat clearings and induced reflexive coughs.
(© 2023. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Acoustic analysis; Aspiration; Chemoradiotherapy; Cough assessment; Dysphagia; Head and neck cancer

Date Created: 20230528 Date Completed: 20231030 Latest Revision: 20231101

20231102

PMC10225042

10.1007/s00455-023-10574-1

37245187