Summary
Objectives
One of the presumed etiologies of primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a respiratory-phonatory
disruption resulting in poor phonatory airflow in speech; however, few data exist
on the differences between vocally healthy adults and patients diagnosed with MTD.
The goal of this study was to compare aerodynamic and acoustic measures of self-perceived
vocally healthy adults with patients diagnosed with MTD.
Study Design
Retrospective, observational, matched cohort study.
Methods
Vocally healthy adults age 19–60 years were matched on age, gender, and body mass
index (BMI) to patients diagnosed with MTD. Recorded samples of the first four sentences
of The Rainbow Passage were analyzed for between-group differences in the following
acoustic and aerodynamic dependent measures in connected speech: mean airflow during
voicing, breath number, reading passage duration, inspiratory and expiratory durations,
phonation time, inspiratory and expiratory volumes, cepstral peak prominence (CPP),
CPP standard deviation (CPP SD), low to high ratio (L/H ratio), L/H ratio SD, CPP
Fo, CPP Fo SD, cepstral spectral index of dysphonia, and dB sound pressure level (SPL).
Results
One hundred and seventy participants were studied; 85 patients diagnosed with primary
MTD and 85 vocally healthy control participants. The two groups differed significantly
in mean SPL, duration of the reading passage, and inspiratory and expiratory airflow
duration (P ≤ 0.003). No significant differences were observed between the groups on any other phonatory
aerodynamic or acoustic measure. Mean SPL, duration of the reading passage, and inspiratory
and expiratory airflow durations were lower and longer, respectively, in patients
with MTD. Ranges and standard deviations were greater for all aerodynamic and acoustic
measurements in patients with MTD.
Conclusion
Large variability in aerodynamic and acoustic measurements were observed in patients
with primary MTD with no salient differences at the group level compared to vocally
healthy participants. Individual phonatory aerodynamic and acoustic profiles should
be used when setting goals for patient treatment plans and to track response to treatment
for patients with MTD. Taken in its entirety, connected speech from patients diagnosed
with MTD essentially reflect normal acoustic and aerodynamic values.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 13, 2020
Accepted:
December 23,
2019
Footnotes
Declaration of Interests: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Voice Foundation.
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- Aerodynamic Measures in Muscle Tension DysphoniaJournal of Voice
- PreviewIn the recent article from Belsky et al,1 which evaluates aerodynamic and acoustic measurements in healthy patients and patients with primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), the authors concluded that connected speech from patients diagnosed with MTD essentially reflect normal acoustic and aerodynamic values. We greatly appreciated the authors for their work and for their effort in including aerodynamic studies in the assessment of MTD, which we think is important for the understanding of this voice disorder.
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