How does the choice of acoustic measures influence evaluation of voice therapy treatment outcomes?

Abstract

There exists a large amount of predominantly low-level evidence that behavioral voice therapy is effective but there is limited evidence that one therapy is more effective than another. Variability in voice therapy treatment outcomes research leaves clinicians with little guidance in the selection of treatment. A range of acoustic outcome measures with differing sensitivity for detecting voice change are used, statistical analyses vary and experimental design presents both pros and cons regarding applicability of outcomes to real-world clinical settings. In this presentation, a review of acoustic outcome measures, statistical methods, and research design used to evaluate treatment for two clinical cohorts—muscle tension voice disorder and gender affirming voice therapy—will be presented. Two treatments investigated across the two cohorts (Resonant Voice Therapy and Sob Voice Therapy) will be used to demonstrate how acoustic analysis has been used and how implications of results differ. Method: Comparison of data available in published literature will be presented alongside new data as yet unpublished. Acoustic measures, research design, and statistical tests used will be evaluated for sensitivity to voice change, level of evidence, and translation to clinical practice.