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Scaling voice activity limitation and participation restriction in dysphonic individuals
Estella P-M Ma1, Edwin M-L Yiu
1Voice Research Laboratory and Centre for Communication Disorders, Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China. estella.ma@hku.hk
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the most appropriate scaling procedure for evaluating voice activity limitation (AL) and voice participation restriction (PR). In a randomly counterbalanced design, 32 dysphonic individuals rated their self-perceived extents of voice AL and PR using two scaling procedures [equal-appearing interval (EAI) scaling and visual analogue (VA) scaling]. Results revealed that test-retest reliabilities were similar for the two scaling procedures. The overall extents of voice AL and PR obtained from the two scaling procedures were similar. Moreover, the significant linear relationships obtained between the EAI and VA data of voice AL and PR suggest both dimensions as metathetic in nature. Therefore, either EAI or VA scaling procedure would be considered as appropriate for rating voice AL and PR. However, the relative ease to use by consumers favours the choice of EAI over VA scaling procedure for evaluating voice AL and PR.
