Proposal of Standard Analysis Method for High-speed Digital Imaging

High-speed digital imaging (HSDI) has not yet been integrated into the daily clinical practice of phonosurgeons. The lack of a standard analysis method is one of the primary reasons for this. The authors herein propose a standard HSDI analysis method. The visual-perceptual rating is a standard analysis method for videostroboscopy. Although it is subjective, it is fast and easy to complete. Since no visual-perceptual rating protocol has been proposed for HSDI, the authors introduced a new assessment form for HSDI. Laryngotopography is a method that uses fast Fourier transformation on the brightness curve of pixels. This method provides spatial vibratory data (lateral plus longitudinal data), which allows phonosurgeons (accustomed to 2-D endoscopic view) to intuitively grasp the general vibratory dynamics. Kymography, a classical analysis method for HSDI, allows for the evaluation of lateral and temporal data. The glottal area waveform is another classical method that can be applied to the analysis of HSDI, which provides temporal information related to the glottal area. Since the quantitative parameters for the last three techniques were limited, the authors introduced a number of novel parameters to enhance quantitative capacity in the analysis of HSDI. Although the proposed method is still preliminary, it is easy to understand, and capable of sufficiently assessing three dimensions of HSDI data (lateral, longitudinal and temporal).