Are smartphones and low-cost external microphones comparable for measuring time-domain acoustic parameters?

Abstract

Purpose: This study examined and compared the diagnostic accuracy and correlation levels of the acoustic parameters of the audio recordings obtained from smartphones on two operating systems and from dynamic and condenser types of external microphones. Method: The study included 87 adults: 57 with voice disorder and 30 with a healthy voice. Each participant was asked to perform a sustained vowel phonation (/a/). The recordings were taken simultaneously using five microphones AKG-P220, Shure-SM58, Samson Go Mic, Apple iPhone 6, and Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro microphones in an acoustically insulated cabinet. Acoustic examinations were performed using Praat version 6.2.09. The data were examined using Pearson correlation and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. Results: The parameters with the highest area under curve (AUC) values among all microphone recordings in the time-domain analyses were the frequency perturbation parameters. Additionally, considering the correlation coefficients obtained by synchronizing the microphones with each other and the AUC values together, the parameter with the highest correlation coefficient and diagnostic accuracy values was the jitter-local parameter. Conclusion: Period-to-period perturbation parameters obtained from audio recordings made with smartphones show similar levels of diagnostic accuracy to external microphones used in clinical conditions.