@article{Jenkins:2025aa,
 abstract = {Benign and malignant vocal fold lesions can alter voice quality and lead to significant morbidity or, in the case of malignancy, mortality. Early, noninvasive identification of these lesions using voice as a biomarker may improve diagnostic access and outcomes. In this study, we analyzed data from the initial release of the Bridge2AI-Voice dataset to evaluate which acoustic features best distinguish laryngeal cancer and benign vocal fold lesions from other vocal pathologies and healthy voice function. Seven diagnostic cohorts were grouped into two analyses: the first included participants with laryngeal cancer, benign lesions, or no voice disorder; the second included those with laryngeal cancer or benign lesions without other voice disorders, as well as individuals with spasmodic dysphonia or vocal fold paralysis. Acoustic features including fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR) were extracted from standardized speech recordings and compared using nonparametric statistical methods. Among the overall sample, significant differences were identified in HNR and fundamental frequency between benign lesions and both healthy controls and laryngeal cancer. In cisgender men, these distinctions were also observed, particularly in HNR and its variability. No statistically significant differences were observed among cisgender women, likely due to the limited sample size. These findings suggest that HNR, particularly its variability, may hold promise as a voice-based marker for early detection and monitoring of vocal fold lesions. Further research with larger, more diverse populations is needed to refine these features and validate their clinical utility.},
 author = {Jenkins, Phillip and Harrison, Rylan and Bedrick, Steven and Karstens, Lisa and , Bridge2AI-Voice Consortium and Hersh, William and Bensoussan, Yael and Elemento, Olivier and Rameau, Anais and Sigaras, Alexandros and Ghosh, Satrajit and Powell, Maria and Ravitsky, Vardit and Belisle-Pipon, Jean Christophe and Dorr, David and Payne, Phillip and Johnson, Alistair and Bahr, Ruth and Bolser, Donald and Rudzicz, Frank and Lerner-Ellis, Jordan and Jenkins, Kathy and Awan, Shaheen and Boyer, Micah and Hersh, William and Krussel, Andrea and Bedrick, Steven and Syed, Toufeeq Ahmed and Toghranegar, Jamie and Anibal, James and Sutherland, Duncan and Diaz-Ocampo, Enrique and Silberhoz, Elizabeth and Costello, John and Gelbard, Alexander and Vinson, Kimberly and Neal, Tempestt and Jayachandran, Lochana and Ng, Evan and Casalino, Selina and Abdel-Aty, Yassmeen and Hanna, Karim and Zesiewicz, Theresa and Moothedan, Elijah and Evangelista, Emily and Cruz, Samantha Salvi and Zhao, Robin and Ebraheem, Mohamed and Newberry, Karlee and Santiago, Iris De and Eiseman, Ellie and Rahman, JM and Jo, Stacy and Goldenberg, Anna},
 bdsk-url-1 = {https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/digital-health/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1609811},
 bdsk-url-2 = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1609811},
 date-added = {2025-08-12 09:25:28 -0700},
 date-modified = {2026-05-28 09:28:22 -0700},
 doi = {10.3389/fdgth.2025.1609811},
 issn = {2673-253X},
 journal = {Frontiers in Digital Health},
 month = {August},
 title = {Voice as a biomarker: exploratory analysis for benign and malignant vocal fold lesions},
 url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/digital-health/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1609811},
 volume = {Volume 7 - 2025},
 year = {2025}
}