Comparison of objective and subjective voice change parameters after medical treatments in allergic rhinitis

Abstract

Purpose: In the present study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of different treatments on voice quality in allergic rhinitis. Thus we compared the objective and subjective voice parameters of patients with allergic rhinitis before and after treatment groups. Materials and Methods: Patiens treated with intranasal steroid sprey is the 1. group, intranasal steroid spray+oral antihistamine is the 2. group. The objective ( fundamental frequency(F0) ,shimmer%, jitter%, noise to harmonics ratio (NHR) and subjective (total nasal symptom score(TNSS), voice-handicap index(VHI ) ) voice analysis were compared .Results: All voice parameters were improved after treatment in both groups except F0 in group 1. F0 values after treatment in the 2. group was significantly higher than before treatment; F0 values in the 1. group was higher but it was insignificant. There was no significant difference between the subjective parameters and objective parameters including F0, jitter%, shimmer% and NHR values between group 1 and group 2. Conclusion: We found that voice quality improved with intranasal steroid sprey treatment, and also with the addition of oral antihistamine to intranasal steroid in allergic rhinitis. However, no significant difference was detected in voice analysis with this combined treatment in the subjective and objective evaluation .