Summary
Background
Voice therapy provides patients with valuable exercises and techniques to optimize
vocal behaviors and improve their ability to communicate effectively and efficiently.
These sessions were typically held by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in clinic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SLPs were provisionally able to provide billable voice
therapy services in telehealth format. There is a lack of existing research studies
comparing outcomes based on the format of voice therapy.
Methods
A retrospective chart review was performed on 101 patients who underwent voice therapy
at a large academic institution in order to compare outcomes between clinic, telehealth,
and mixed voice therapy formats. Demographics, dysphonia etiology, duration of symptoms,
number of therapy sessions, and pre- and postvoice therapy scores using reflux symptom
index (RSI), voice handicap index (VHI-10), consensus auditory-perceptual evaluation
of voice (CAPE-V), and Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain (GRBAS) scoring
were collected. Statistical comparisons were performed using Fisher's exact test and
analysis of covariance.
Results
There were no statistically significant differences in pre- to postvoice therapy RSI,
VHI-10, CAPE-V, or GRBAS scores based on format of voice therapy, after adjustment
for number of therapy sessions received. There were no differences in these outcomes
when comparing voice therapy by etiology of dysphonia.
Conclusions
Overall, these data support the effectiveness of the telehealth voice therapy format.
It is a promising platform for greater patient access to therapy. All formats of voice
therapy were effective in improving key measures of voice perception.
KEY WORDS
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 06, 2023
Accepted:
March 15,
2023
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
Authors have no financial disclosures. No grant support to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2023 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
