Andrea Lius in The Scientist:
People often “lose their voice” after spending the night cheering for a local sports team or singing along to their favorite songs at a concert. Such overuse can temporarily injure the vocal cords, making people’s voices sound hoarse and strained. But there’s a much more alarming cause that can also alter a person’s voice: laryngeal cancer, which may be fatal if left untreated. Clinicians typically assess this condition using invasive—and at times, unavailable in underserved areas—methods such as endoscopy and biopsy.
In a recent study, researchers found that certain acoustic features could distinguish people with vocal cord lesions from those without based on their voice recordings.1 One of the characteristics that the researchers measured could even differentiate between benign and cancerous lesions. This work, led by Phillip Jenkins, a general surgery resident at Oregon Health and Science University, put forward a non-invasive and more accessible way to diagnose voice disorders. Their findings were published in Frontiers in Digital Health.
More here.
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