Abstract

Introduction: Hyper-functional voice disorders (HFVD) are conditions of abuse and misuse of the vocal mechanism due to excessive muscular forces. It leads to change in the quality of voice, vocal fatigue and vocal discomfort. Treatment for HFVD is multidimensional, which includes voice therapy as well. Aim: The study was aimed to evaluate the effects of voice therapy on patients with hyper-functional voice disorders by comparing the acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic voice parameters before and after voice therapy. Methods: 30 male individuals with Hyper-functional voice disorder cases and 30 male individuals with clinically normal voice (control group) participated in this study. Cases received voice therapy, which lasted for 6 to 12 weeks. Acoustic, perceptual and Aerodynamic parameters were analyzed before and after voice therapy in cases. These parameters also analyzed in control group. Results: Before voice therapy, acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic parameters were worse in the cases than the control group. After 6-12 weeks of voice therapy, acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic parameters were significantly improved in cases. Voice parameters of control group were compared with the voice parameters of cases after voice therapy and results showed that no significant difference in acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic measures. Conclusion: Voice therapy provides a significant improvement in perceptual, acoustic and aerodynamic aspects of voice in hyper-functional voice disorder. Multidimensional assessment provides an objective, recordable data regarding the voice parameters and its pathologies.