VOICE THERAPY RESULTS IN PATIENTS WITH DYSPHONIA

Materials and Methods: In this study 22 (13 maleand 9 female) patients who were diagnosed as dysphonia and who were undergone voice therapy between November 2016 and December 2017 after were enrolled to the current study. Direct/indirect voice therapy methods were applied at different time periods and intensites according to the dysphonia characteristics of the patients. To assess the results of therapy; vocal handicap index (VHI), maximum phonation time (MPT) and S/Z ratio were recorded before and after the therapy. In the statistical evaluations of the study results; descriptive statistical methods (percentage, mean, standard deviation) were used for interpreting the obtained data. To compare the measurements before and after the therapy "Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test" was used. P <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results: The primary diagnosis of 22 patients who were enrolled to the study were as follows; 11 (50%) patients were diagnosed as vocal nodules (VN), 2 (9%) patients as with functional aphonia (FA), 3 (13.5%) patients as muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), and 6 (27.5%) patients as puberphonia (PP). Statistically significant differences (P <0.05) were found between the values of MPT, VHI and S/Z before and after voice therapies of VN patients. The post-therapy VHE and MFZ scores of the FA, MTD and PP patients were lower/higher compared to pre-therapy scores.

Conclusion: It can be stated that voice therapy is an effective treatment method in patients with dysphonia. In the clinical setting, the MPT, VHI and S/Z ratio can be used to follow-up the effectiveness of voice therapy. Keywords : Dysphonia, Voice therapy, Vocal nodule