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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Isolation of Mouse Respiratory Epithelial Cells and Exposure to Experimental Cigarette Smoke at Air Liquid Interface
Published on: February 21, 2011
Short term effect of hubble-bubble smoking on voice
A-L Hamdan1, A Sibai, L Mahfoud
1Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon. alhamdan@svclb.com
Objective:
To investigate the short term effect of hubble-bubble smoking on voice.
Study Design:
Prospective study.
Material:
Eighteen non-dysphonic subjects (seven men and 11 women) with a history of hubble-bubble smoking and no history of cigarette smoking underwent acoustic analysis and laryngeal video-stroboscopic examination before and 30 minutes after hubble-bubble smoking.
Results:
On laryngeal video-stroboscopy, none of the subjects had vocal fold erythema either before or after smoking. Five patients had mild vocal fold oedema both before and after smoking. After smoking, there was a slight increase in the number of subjects with thick mucus between the vocal folds (six, vs four before smoking) and with vocal fold vessel dilation (two, vs one before smoking). Acoustic analysis indicated a drop in habitual pitch, fundamental frequency and voice turbulence index after smoking, and an increase in noise-to-harmonics ratio.
Conclusion:
Even 30 minutes of hubble-bubble smoking can cause a drop in vocal pitch and an increase in laryngeal secretions and vocal fold vasodilation.
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