Validation and diagnostic accuracy of the Acoustic Vocal Quality Index v03.01 in Catalan and Spanish for clinical use in a bilingual population

Objective: To determine the validity and diagnostic accuracy of the AVQI in Catalan and Spanish, to define a cut-off point and to assess the equivalence of the Catalan and Spanish versions in a bilingual population. Methodology: The study was carried out with a sample of 214 participants with normal and dysphonic voices. All of them were native speakers of Catalan and Spanish and residents of Catalonia. AVQI scores were calculated. Four speech-language pathologists, native speakers of Catalan and Spanish, were in charge of scoring the voice samples based on the CAPE-V index. Inter-rater reliability, concurrent validity, diagnostic accuracy and cut-off points were assessed. Results: AVQI and CAPE-V scores showed significant correlations (r = 0.724 and r = 0.737, in Catalan and Spanish, respectively). Areas under the curve (AUC) for the AVQI-C were 0.829 (95% CI: 0.775-0.882) and an AUC of 0.856 (95% CI: 0.807-0.905) for the AVQI-E. Mean AVQI scores in Catalan and Spanish were significantly different. Conclusions: The Catalan and Spanish adaptations of the AVQI are valid for clinical use for the acoustic assessment of general voice quality in a bilingual context.