Publication: Acoustic Analysis Before and After Voice Therapy for Laryngeal Pathology
Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kathmandu University
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Background
Voice problems caused by pathologies in vocal folds are well known. Some types
of laryngeal pathologies have certain acoustic characteristics. Objective evaluation
helps characterize the voice and voice problems providing supporting evidences,
severity of disorders. It helps assess the response to the treatment and measures
the outcomes.
Objective
The objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of the voice therapy and
quantify the results objectively by voice parameters.
Method
Study includes 61 patients who presented with different types of laryngeal
pathologies. Acoustic analyses and voice assessment was done with Dr. Speech ver
4 (Tiger DRS Inc.). Acoustic parameters including fundamental frequency, jitters,
shimmers, Harmonic to noise ratio (HNR), Normalized noise energy (NNE) were
analyzed before and after voice therapy.
Result
Bilateral vocal nodules were the most common pathologies comprising 44.26%.
All acoustic parameters showed a significant difference after the therapy (p<0.05)
except for NNE. Dysphonia due to vocal fold polyp showed no improvement even
after voice therapy (p>0.05).
Conclusion
Acoustic analysis provides an objective, recordable data regarding the voice
parameters and its pathologies. Though, few pathology require alternative therapy
rather than voice therapy, overall it has a good effect on glottic closure. As the voice
therapy can improve the different indices of voice, it can be viewed as imperative
part of treatment and to monitor progression.
KEY WORDS
Acoustic analysis, objective evaluation, voice assessment, voice therapy
Description
Chhetri SS, Gautam R
Department of ENT-HNS
Kathmandu Medical College and Teaching Hospital
Sinamangal, Kathmandu, Nepal
Keywords
Acoustic analysis, Objective evaluation, Voice assessment, Voice therapy