The speakers voice is rated on a five-point scale indicating the degree of breathiness/weakness. These qualities represent a disturbance in laryngeal functioning specifically related to inadequate adduction of the vocal folds.
| Rating | Comments | Sample |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Voice quality varies and is too weak to judge. | no sample |
| Level 2 | Severe breathiness. Voice quality in this sample is identified as breathy and weak, rated two indicating a severe degree of breathiness. The failure of the folds to approximate appropriately is evident. Excessive loss of air is perceptually apparent as aspiration before initiating vowels. Most voiceless consonants especially plosives are produced with excessive loss of air. This tends to accentuate the quality of breathiness and further distort respiration and phrasing during continuous speech. Pitch register is moderately high. Moderate pharyngeal resonance is also apparent. | (Female) |
| Level 3 | Moderate breathiness. This sample of breathy voice quality is rated three, moderately breathy. The faulty pattern in fold vibration and/or the lack of tonicity in the folds reduces the intensity of the glottal tone. As previously noted, this excessive loss of air during phonation is also identified with an inability to modify the breath stream adequately for consonant production. These factors seriously disturb the prosodic features of speech and tend to reduce intelligibility. | (Female) |
| Level 4 | Mild breathiness. Voice quality in this sample is classified mild breathiness. Other characteristics include articulation defects, and a rate of articulation controlled well for clarity. Attempts to stress appropriately are clearly evident. | (Male) |
| Level 5 | Normal quality. | no sample |