Effectiveness of Voice Therapy Associated With Electromyographic Biofeedback in Women With Behavioral Dysphonia: Randomized Placebo-Controlled Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Abstract

To analyze the effectiveness of vocal therapy associated with electromyographic biofeedback in women with behavioral dysphonia. This is a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial. Twenty-two adult women with behavioral dysphonia were randomly divided into two groups: Experimental Group-11 women participated in vocal therapy associated with the application of electromyographic biofeedback; Placebo Group-11 women participated in vocal therapy associated with the application of placebo electromyographic biofeedback. Both groups performed eight therapy sessions, twice a week, lasting 30 minutes. The vocal therapy of both groups was composed of semioccluded vocal tract exercises (trill, humming, and fricative). The evaluations were performed at four time points-before, after, one, and three months after the vocal therapy-and will consist of the following assessments: auditory-perceptual evaluation of voice, acoustic evaluation of voice, and surface electromyographic. The data were analyzed statistically comparing the groups and the time of evaluation (P < 0.05). The proposed vocal therapy promoted positive results in vocal quality and muscular electrical activity during rest in women with behavioral dysphonia for both groups. Electromyographic biofeedback promoted additional positive results in muscle electrical activity during phonatory tasks in women with behavioral dysphonia. In this study, the vocal therapy associated with electromyographic biofeedback had equivalent efficacy to traditional therapy in the voice. The biofeedback was more effective than traditional therapy on muscular electrical activity and had effects that remained for a longer time in women with behavioral dysphonia.