The effect of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty on the nasality of voice

Abstract

We prospectively studied the effect of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) on several speech and vocal parameters in 15 patients. Preoperative, 1-month postoperative, and 6-month postoperative assessments were made. Specific parameters included maximum phonation time, mean speaking fundamental frequency, mean frequency perturbation, intensity, and nasalance. Psychoacoustic analysis included pitch, quality, rate, resonance, and loudness. The primary outcome measure was the nasality of voice. At the 1-month postoperative assessment, one patient exhibited mild hypernasality by psychoacoustic analysis and a mildly elevated measured nasalance. At 6 months, both the psychoacoustic hypernasality and the measure nasalance had normalized. Consequently, no subjects exhibited hypernasality at the final assessment. Although abnormalities by psychoacoustic analysis were exhibited by 3 subjects at the 6-month postoperative assessment, none could be attributed to the surgery, but rather to concurrent illnesses. This study adds further data and support that UPPP done in standard fashion does not result in significant changes in voice either by measured parameters or by clinical assessment. Although this study does not obviate the need for preoperative counseling of patients about the potential effect of UPPP on voice, they can be counseled that the risk of hypernasality after UPPP is low.