A Simple Voice Training Method for Inflammatory Laryngeal Diseases by Relying on Abdominal Respiration

Abstract

Background: It has been suggested that doctors should perform voice therapy in cooperation with speech therapists, but there are few speech therapists in Japan. Therefore, at our hospital otorhinolaryngology out-patient clinic, voice therapy is performed by a single doctor (first author) using a simple method of voice training that relies on the abdominal type of respiration. Voice therapy is considered the first choice for vocal fold nodules. We tried this voice training method for vocal fold polyps and laryngeal granulomas with resistance to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) as well as vocal fold nodules. Methods: At our hospital otorhinolaryngology out-patient clinic, voice therapy was performed using a simple method of voice training that relies on abdominal respiration for inflammatory laryngeal diseases. Results: All 16 cases with vocal fold nodules showed disappearance of symptoms by our method of voice training. Nine of 12 cases with vocal fold polyps and 12 of 15 cases with laryngeal granulomas showed disappearance or reduction of symptoms. Conclusions: These results suggested that our method of voice training could be useful for some cases of both vocal fold polyps and laryngeal granulomas in the same way as vocal fold nodules.