Acoustic Voice Measures in Benign Mass Lesions

Abstract

Objectives: The present study aims to compare acoustic voice parameters in patients with vocal cord nodules, polyps, and normal subjects. Methods: In this cross-sectional case-control study, the participants were selected by convenience sampling, including 30 patients with vocal polyps for the first group, 38 patients with vocal nodules for the second group, and 42 participants without voice pathologies as the control group. For each group, participants were examined by a speech and language pathologist (SLP) using an Endo-vision laryngoscope. Acoustic voice parameters were measured by MDVP software in Visi-Pitch; then, these parameters were compared in groups in terms of sex. Results: Three groups showed significant differences in terms of fundamental frequency (P<0.001), jitter (P<0.001), shimmer (P<0.001), and noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR) values (P<0.001). Women in three groups had the substantial differences in terms of fundamental frequency (P<0.001), jitter (P<0.001), shimmer (P<0.001), and NHR (P<0.001). For men, the three groups showed a significant difference for jitter (P<0.001) and shimmer (P=0.001), but for NHR (P=024), and fundamental frequency (P=0.93) no signification difference were observed. Discussion: It seems that the existence of benign mass lesions, such as vocal cord nodules and polyps affects the acoustic parameters of the voice. The measurement of acoustic voice parameters may help us to differentiate between the voices of normal people and patients with vocal cord nodules and polyps as a supplementary assessment in clinical procedures.