The Correlation Between Voice Handicap Index and Specific Acoustic Measures in Patients With Muscle Tension Dysphonia

Abstract

Background: With regard to the multidimensional concept of the voice, different assessments are needed to diagnose and treat voice disorders. Additionally, it is important to know how various aspects of voice are compared and related to each other. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) score and the acoustic measures in different types of Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD). Patients and Methods: Eighteen females including 12 with primary MTD (group 1) and 6 with secondary MTD (group 2) participated in this cross-sectional study. All subjects completed VHI and were provided with voice samples including three trials of the sustained vowel /a/ at a comfortable loudness level as well as a connected speech sample. Acoustic measures were performed with Praat software and included fundamental frequency, jitter %, shimmer % and intensity. Results: Certain correlations were found between fundamental frequency in vowel and total VHI, physical, functional and emotional domains of VHI in group 1 (r = 0.636, 0.649, 0.613 and 0.592 respectively). There was good correlation between speaking fundamental frequency and total VHI and its subscales - except the physical subscale - were also correlated. In group 2, the correlations between jitter and total VHI as well as the emotional domain of VHI was very good (r = 0.829, and 0.812 respectively). Furthermore, we found very good correlation between the intensity of speech and functional domain (r = 0.812). Conclusions: VHI and acoustic parameters likely measure different aspects of voice and thus are not interchangeable. However, the correlation between VHI and some laboratory measurements increases in dysphonia of the same nature, origin and same sexuality.