Prevalence of voice disorders in the Department of Speech- Language Pathology of a tertiary care hospital of Mangaluru: A retrospective study of 11 years

Abstract

Abstract Background: Voice disorder is now considered a 'public health concern'. Epidemiological studies of yesteryears performed in the West disseminate the importance of prevention and early identification of the change in voice. In India 'Vocology' or study of voice production is slowly emerging with specific attention to vocal health and voice care. Aim of the study: The present study implemented a retrospective observational design to identify prevalence of voice disorders in a tertiary care hospital. Method: The Diagnostic register of Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology of a semi-urban hospital was accessed from January 1st 2007 till January 31st 2018. Patients diagnosed with a voice disorder, in-isolation and/or in conjunction to a medical condition, were tabulated. The data was tallied under the following categories: type of voice disorder; nature of voice disorder; age of onset; gender and perceptual features. Results: Results of the study suggested 21.4% prevalence of voice disorder. In addition the study also noted maximum prevalence of vocal nodule; adult male subjects exhibited a higher rate of vocal fold pathology and increased prevalence of perceptually hoarse voice. Conclusion: The data from the study accounts voice problems to be on higher side with vocal fold hyper-function disorder topping the chart.