Sensation and Repercussion of the Use of Humid Heat in the Treatment of Dysphonia due to Laryngitis in Singers

Abstract

To verify the efficiency of thermotherapy perceptively and acoustically with hot vapor in the treatment of acute laryngitis. This is a pre and post test quasi-experimental study without a control group, approved by the ethics committee. Its sample counted with 65 singers - 37 females (56.9%) and 28 males (43.1%), mean age 33.7 years (±7.9) years, nonsmokers, with dysphonia due to acute laryngitis. They were submitted to videolaryngostroboscopy and perceptive-acoustic assessment of the voice before and 30 minutes after applying the inhalation of hot vapor. The appropriate statistical tests were used, adopting the significance level lower than 0.05. In the acoustic assessment, there was a statistically significant improvement in jitter and shimmer for vowels A and E, P < 0.001. The F0 assessed separately per sex, as it presented a significant difference, P < 0.001. The women's F0 results before and after the heat were higher than the men's. In the analysis of the acoustic results based on harmonics-to-noise ratio and normalized noise energy, there was significant improvement after the heat. All the mean values increased after the heat. There was a statistically significant decrease in the parameters related to the perceptive-auditory assessment for G (grade of hoarseness), R (roughness), B (breathiness), and S (strain). Of the 47 singers that scored 2 for G, 28 (59.6%) reduced it to 1 after the heat, P < 0.001. All the 45 that scored 2 for R reduced it to 1, P=0.011. Of the 8 who scored 2 for B, 6 (75%) reduced it to 1, P=0.020. All the 28 singers that scored 1 for S reduced it to 0, P < 0.001. Only for A (asthenia), there was no significant improvement, P=0.513. The results of the videolaryngostroboscopy revealed a statistically significant difference in all parameters analyzed, such as hyperemia, edema, muco-undulatory movement, and glottal coaptation. The thermotherapy with using humid heat, provide symptomatic benefits in the treatment of dysphonia caused by laryngitis, demonstrating that the hyperthermoterapy is a potential auxiliary therapeutic resource for the treatment of acute dysphonia due to laryngitis since the intervention with the technique proposed increased the voice quality. It is suggested that this method be used in speech-language clinical practice and that new studies be conducted with stronger designs for its efficacy to be confirmed.