Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Resonant Voice Therapy in Patients with Functional Voice Disorder

Abstract

Objective. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of resonant voice therapy (RVT) in patients with functional voice disorder and to examine the subjective and objective voice changes after the therapy. Study Design. This study adopted an experimental research design with a pretest-posttest control group. Method. Thirty-four women participated in the study-17 in the experimental group and 17 in the control group. Voice hygiene training and RVT were applied to the experimental group. The Turkish version of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI-10) and GRBAS (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain) scale were used for subjective voice assessment. Voice recordings were subjected to acoustic analysis on the PRAAT program. After an 8-week therapy program, the same process was repeated for post-test assessment. Results. In the voice analyses performed after RVT, which was applied to patients with functional voice disorders, the results of the acoustic analysis showed statistically significant differences in jitter, PPQ5, RAP, shimmer, APQ11, and NHR parameters. Subjective voice analysis indicated a statistically significant decrease in VHI-10 scores from 20.88 +/- 5.33-9.06 +/- 3.3 in the experimental group. The GRBAS score was 4.29 +/- 1.2 before the therapy and 1.71 +/- 1.1 after the therapy, which is a statistically significant decrease. The results point out that RVT has been effective in improving the objective and subjective parameters of patients with functional voice disorders. Conclusion. RVT applied to patients with functional voice disorders provides significant improvement in acoustic and perceptual voice parameters. The RVT is an effective therapy method in the treatment of patients with functional voice disorders and should be considered as a therapeutic option.