Dysphonia risk screening protocol

Area of Science:

• Otolaryngology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Vocal Health

Background:

• Dysphonia, a voice disorder, requires accurate screening tools for timely diagnosis and intervention.
• Existing screening methods may lack comprehensive assessment across diverse populations.
• A validated protocol is needed to assess dysphonia risk efficiently in clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel dysphonia risk screening protocol with a scoring system.
• To determine the protocol's applicability and diagnostic accuracy in individuals with and without dysphonia across different age demographics.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive cross-sectional study involving 365 participants (children, adult women, adult men, seniors) divided into dysphonic and non-dysphonic groups.
• A 18-question protocol with a 10-cm visual analog scale for score calculation, incorporating partial and total scores.
• Vocal deviation assessment via speech samples and acoustic analysis for group confirmation at baseline and six months.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in mean total scores were observed between dysphonic (mean 46.09) and non-dysphonic (mean 15.55) groups.
• The protocol exhibited high sensitivity and specificity, with established cut-off points for children (22.50), adult women (29.25), adult men (22.75), and seniors (27.10).

Conclusions:

• The proposed dysphonia risk screening protocol is an effective instrument for voice clinics.
• The protocol demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity in differentiating individuals with and without dysphonia across various demographic groups.