Vocal fold vibratory behavior changes following surgical treatment of polyps investigated with high-speed...

The goal of this study was to objectively quantify the changes in vocal fold vibratory characteristics before and after surgery with high-speed videoendoscopy and the image analysis tool phonovibrography.

High-speed videoendoscopic data, audio recordings, and Voice Handicap Index scores were collected from 8 subjects with a diagnosis of unilateral vocal fold polyps, before operation and at 1 week and 1 to 3 months after operation. We then analyzed the objective phonovibrographic patterns and parameters describing the vocal fold vibratory behavior.

On phonovibrography, the visual representations of the vocal fold vibratory characteristics, from both the individual and the group data, demonstrated very different patterns before surgery and both 1 week and 1 to 3 months after surgery. The individual phonovibrograms obtained from the left and right true vocal folds clearly demonstrated the lesion site and its effects on the vocal fold vibratory characteristics for each subject. The improvements in amplitude and symmetry (relative vibratory amplitude and vibration amplitude symmetry) of vocal fold vibration were quantified; the difference was greatest between data from before surgery and data from 1 week after surgery.

The visual phonovibrographic patterns and quantitative data revealed marked changes in vocal fold vibratory patterns after operation and continued improvement at 1 to 3 months.