Received Voice Therapy Research Articles

Laryngeal Findings in Patients with Contact Granuloma: a Long-Term Follow-Up Study

In order to evaluate the long-term outcome of contact granuloma a follow-up study of 59 patients was conducted. Primary treatment consisted mainly of voice therapy or of voice therapy in combination with surgery. A careful history was taken and the patients were examined using videolaryngoscopy. The average follow-up time was 12 years (range 5-20 years). In total, 10 out of 59 patients (17%) had a granuloma at the follow-up examination, 6 of them presenting without subjective symptoms. Another 28 patients had various signs of inflammation of the posterior glottis. The history taken at follow-up revealed that eight patients had had a previous temporary recurrence during the follow-up time. The recurrence frequency was the same for patients who received voice therapy after postoperative recurrence and patients who were treated with voice therapy only. About 80% of the patients had no symptoms at follow-up. The findings of the present study indicate that contact granuloma is one of several manifestations of chronic posterior laryngitis and that it may occur without symptoms.

Vocal fold nodules in children: preferable therapy

Background: The purpose of this paper is to know the preferable treatment for vocal fold nodules in children. Methods: Two hundred and fifty nine patients with vocal fold nodules (176 males and 83 females) were retrospectively reviewed. Age ranged from 2 to 18 years with a mean age of 9 years. In addition, questionnaire survey was carried out, asking about their present voice. Results: Sixteen percent of the patients showed improvement by vocal hygiene advice. Fifty two percent of patients receiving voice therapy showed some improvement. Eighty nine percent of patients showed some improvement by endolaryngeal microsurgery. With respect to the influence of puberty upon the voice, there was no significant difference among vocal hygiene, voice therapy, and no-treatment for pre-puberty cases. Surgical treatment was the only reliable method to acquire voice improvement for pre-puberty cases. In contrast, following puberty there was no significant difference in voice improvement among treatment modalities. Conclusion: If the patient needs immediate improvement of voice, surgery is preferable. If they need the improvement of voice but do not hurry up, voice therapy should be carried out. If patients have no motivation, vocal hygiene is recommended.

Voice Problems in Hong Kong: A Preliminary Report

This study provided a preliminary investigation of the occurrence and distribution of voice problems of residents of Hong Kong. The subjects were sampled from patients receiving voice therapy. Background data such as laryngeal pathologies, age, sex, occupations and other “at-risk” factors are presented. Vocal abuse appears to be the primary underlying cause of vocal pathologies found in this sample. Investigation of the parameters of voice indicated that the phonatory ability, as measured by maximum phonation time of subjects with laryngeal pathologies was greatly reduced. Perceptual analysis of voice quality revealed that harshness (irregular glottal wave) was more prevalent than whisperiness (noise components of turbulent air).

Dismissal criteria in voice therapy.

Five criteria are developed for systematizing the results of voice remediation for hyperfunctional voice disorders. These dismissal criteria are laryngeal improvement, voice improvement, the patient’s feeling of improvement, no improvement, and the patient’s termination of therapy. Application of the criteria to 73 patients who received voice therapy are studied relative to dimensions of the patient’s improvement or lack of improvement.

Psychosocial impact on puberphonic and effectiveness of voice therapy: A case report

Puberphonia is a rare disorder, in which the patient manifests higher register voice than others of their same age group. Manifestation is less in women than men. The prevalence is 1 in 900,000. Apart from impact on voice of patient, puberphonia also has impact on the psycho-social aspect. Different treatment modalities have been put forward in the past, many of which lack validity and EBP. Voice therapy has proven to be the most effective in the management of puberphonia. Voice Handicap Index (VHI) is a tool for assessing the perceived handicap by the patient. VHI has 3 parts and overall score of 120 and individual subset has score of 40 each. Result: Patient who received voice therapy obtained better score on the overall scale as well as on each subsets of the VHI. Conclusion: The study concludes that the voice therapy not only improves the voice quality of the patient, but also improves the quality of life of the patient. The impact of voice disorder (puberphonia) is most prominent on the emotional section. Keywords: Puberphonia; voice therapy; VHI. DOI: 10.3126/jcmsn.v6i1.3605 Journal of College of Medical Sciences-Nepal, 2010, Vol. 6, No. 1, 57-62