The effect of anchor voices and visible speech in training in the GRABS scale of perceptual evaluation of dysphonia

Abstract Introduction Perceptual evaluation of voice quality remains a key standard for judgement of vocal impairment. The GRABS method has become a commonly used scale for rating severity of dysphonia, but it has no published, standardised protocol to follow. Training is important for reaching good interrater agreement for its parameters; however, the references most often cited for the GRABS provide no guidelines for clinical administration, speech material or rating calibration. This study investigated the effect of anchors (standard reference voices) and visible speech (narrow band spectrogram) in training non-expert professionals in the GRABS method. Material and methods Four inexperienced listeners evaluated 107 recorded pathological voices using the GRABS scale in 2 separate sessions; at first, without a visible spectrogram and then, 6 months later, with anchors and a narrow band spectrogram as additional information. Results The results show that anchors and visible speech helped to improve the reliability of G , B , A and S parameters. Interrater agreement according to k statistics was significantly stronger with the addition of spectrographic information for rating breathiness and strain. Discussion This study found that non-expert listeners showed significant improvement after training with external anchors (standard reference voices) and a narrow band spectrogram.