All speakers were carefully examined by phoniatricians. The following five groups of speakers were compared:
1) Normal speakers (referred to in the following as a control group and denoted in the subsequent figures as control).
Our control group of normal speakers consisted of 2 male and 2 female subjects between 25 and 45 years of age who were first examined by a phoniatrician. The results showed them to be healthy.
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2) Generic breathy voice speakers without organic dysfunctions (breathy).
This group contained 3 female and 1 male subject between 20 and 40. They were also classified according to the results of a phoniatric examination.
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3) Speakers suffering from unilateral vocal fold paralysis (recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis) with compensatory articulation (rp-with-comp).
The age range of this group consisting of 1 man and 3 women was between 40 and 65. The diagnoses of these patients were made in phoniatric examinations and all pointed to a phonatory compensation of a recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, sometimes accompanied by hyperfunctional phenomena.
In this group the compensation effect was observed in the glottal region. For the description of compenastion effects the reader is referred to Wendler et al. (1996:183).
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4) Speakers suffering from unilateral vocal fold paralysis (recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis) without compensatory articulation (rp-without-c).
This group consisted of 3 men and 1 woman between the ages of 40 and 70. They were diagnosed as cases of unilateral and bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis.
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5) Speakers suffering from chordectomy with glottal voicing and no supraglottal compensation (chordectomy).
The 4 men of this group were aged between 50 and 60 years and showed partial or complete regrowth of the vocal folds.
