Clinical Application of Maxillary Lesions by Analysis of Bone Conducted Vowels

Abstract

The bone conducted vowels were picked up by the vibration transducer of the acceleration type applied to the anatomical sites on the head (upper jaw, forehead and mastoid region). These signals were analysed by calculating their spectral envelopes under the method of maximum likelihood spectral estimation.
The spectral characteristics in low frequency range of these bone conducted vowels were similar to those which were recorded from the microphone at the position of 30 cm from the lips. As a result of investigating many spectral envelopes, an inclination towards attenuation of high frequency range was detected, and spectral peaks at the frequency of about 2 kHz were evident for the bone conducted Japanese vowels /e/ and /i/ picked up at the upper jaw.
It was proved experimentally that the existence of those spectral peaks in the bone conducted vowels at the upper jaw was dependent on the pathophysiological condition in the paranasal sinus.
From a point of view described here, it can be said that the bone conducted vowels may be applicable to clinical evaluation for some cystic lesions and solid tumors of the upper jaw.