Article
Vocal quality of patients treated for laryngeal tuberculosis, before and after speech therapy
Registro en:
RUAS, A. C. Nunes et al. Vocal quality of patients treated for laryngeal tuberculosis, before and after speech therapy. Journal of Laryngology and Otology, v. 124, 1153–1157, 2010.
0022-2151
10.1017/S0022215110001106
1748-5460
Autor
Ruas, A. C. Nunes
Rolla, V. Cavalcanti
Araújo-Melo, M. H. de
Moreira, J. Soares
Valete-Rosalino, C. M.
Resumen
Objectives: To evaluate dysphonia in patients treated for laryngeal tuberculosis, and to assess the effect of
speech therapy on patients’ vocal quality. Materials and methods: Seven of 23 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of laryngeal tuberculosis, treated at the Evandro Chagas Institute of Clinical Research, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, underwent speech therapy for six months. These seven patients were evaluated by videolaryngoscopy and vocal acoustic analysis, before, during and after a course of speech therapy. Results: The 23 patients with laryngeal tuberculosis comprised five women and 18 men, with ages ranging from 25 to 83 years (mean 41.3 years). Dysphonia was present in 91.3 per cent of these laryngeal tuberculosis patients, being present as the first symptom in 82.6 per cent. In laryngeal tuberculosis patients with dysphonia, laryngeal tuberculosis treatment resulted in dysphonia resolution in only 15.8 per cent. After speech therapy, dysphonia patients had better vocal quality, as demonstrated by statistical analysis of jitter, shimmer, fundamental frequency variability, maximum phonation time, and the ratio between maximum phonation time for voiceless and voiced fricative sounds. Conclusions: Following treatment of laryngeal tuberculosis, the incidence of dysphonia was very high. Speech therapy improved patients’ vocal quality.