[Factors predicting Voice Handicap Index]

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Speech and Hearing Science
• Acoustic Analysis

Context:

• Dysphonia severity is often assessed using objective acoustic measures and subjective patient-reported outcomes.
• The Voice Handicap Index (VHI) quantifies patient perception of voice disorder impact.
• Understanding predictors of VHI is crucial for comprehensive voice disorder evaluation.

Purpose:

• To identify factors predicting patient-perceived dysphonia severity, measured by the VHI score.
• To explore the relationship between acoustic voice parameters and subjective voice handicap.
• To investigate predictors for different VHI subscales (functional, emotional, physical).

Summary:

• A prospective study analyzed 81 voice samples from patients with benign vocal fold lesions.
• Acoustic parameters including HNR, F0, and GRABS (breathiness, aphonia, pitch, loudness, roughness) were assessed.
• HNR, F0, and GRABS parameters predicted total VHI score and its functional/emotional subscales, but not the physical subscale.

Impact:

• VHI scores correlate with perceived breathy voice and acoustic attributes like signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
• The physical subscale of VHI appears independent of commonly assessed acoustic and perceptual voice parameters.
• Findings suggest that glottic gap severity in benign vocal fold lesions relates to low SNR and breathy phonation.