Kay is pleased to introduce three new software programs for use with the Digital Strobe: the Database of Stroboscopic Recordings of Laryngeal Pathologies (DSRLP), the Video Viewer for Kay Digital Video, and the Digital Strobe Voice Analysis Program (DSVAP).
DSRLP
DSRLP consists of more than 80 recordings of patient exams. Each recording contains a connected speech sample and laryngeal videostroboscopic exam from each patient. Selected stills (.jpg files) extracted from each exam are also provided. Many of the exams include both rigid and flexible endoscope viewing.
The exams selected for use in the database are representative examples of an array of laryngeal pathologies typically encountered in the voice clinic.
The database is intended for use by otolaryngologists, speech-language pathologists, residents, and students, who seek to broaden their knowledge of how various pathologies sound in conversational speech and how they appear through stroboscopic imaging. Most of the pathologies are represented by two or more examples to demonstrate the variability within diagnostic categories. In this way, clinicians can more fully appreciate the continuum of severity.
Video Viewer
The Video Viewer for Kay Digital Video, Model 9221, is included in Kay’s Digital Strobe systems (version 4.2 or higher), and in Digital Swallowing Workstations (version 2.1 and higher). The Video Viewer is a hardware-independent software program used for viewing and listening to exams recorded with Kay’s digital video recording systems (i.e., with .dvm, .dps, or .wav file extensions) as well as playing their associated audio files (.wav).
Because Kay digital video files are stored in a compressed format, the Video Viewer decompresses this video file during playback using the host computer’s processor. The Video Viewer is solely a viewing program; as such, it cannot compress, or record, video in any format.
The Video Viewer is processor-dependent and video may play back with artifacts if the host computer is not powerful enough to support full field-rate playback. It is advisable to have a computer with a minimum CPU speed of 1.5GHz to ensure smooth video playback without motion artifacts.
Although delivered in the Digital Strobe system and the Digital Swallowing Workstation, the Video Viewer is also available on a CD-ROM, as an installation program, for use on a generic Windows computer.
DSVAP
Also newly released is the Digital Strobe Voice Analysis Program (DSVAP), a speech-acquisition and analysis program. DSVAP is designed primarily for otolaryngologists who wish to obtain a few important acoustic measurements, and a high-fidelity speech sample, on their patients.
DSVAP provides quantitative acoustic analysis to complement videostroboscopic examination of patients using the same sophisticated algorithms found in Kay’s dedicated acoustic analysis product lines (e.g., CSL and Visi-Pitch), albeit with a small subset of parameters and features.
DSVAP consists of two tasks: sustained phonation and a short running-speech sample. Because it is protocol-driven, the program is easy to use, even for the occasional user. Brief message prompts walk the user through each task in a step-by-step fashion. The instructions include keystrokes to execute data acquisition and analysis.
Both protocols, along with an automated analysis of each task, can be performed in just minutes. The screen output and numerical results from DSVAP can then be inserted into the stroboscopy report.
DSVAP does robust analysis and is in-tended to provide a simple, quantitative acoustic “snapshot” and high-fidelity acoustic sample of the patient’s voice that can be used for comparison before and after voice therapy or surgery. For more in-depth acoustic analysis, Kay offers the CSL hardware/software platform, with some 19 software options.
Please contact Kay regarding availability of the new software.
