[Effects of electrostimulation therapy in selected cases of vocal fold paralysis]

Paralytic dysphonia is the most serious neurogenic pathology of voice quality. An important issue is to identify methods which support routine treatment.

The aim of the study is to assess voice quality after electrostimulation (ES) therapy in patients with paralytic dysphonia.

The group consisted of 40 patients diagnosed at the Department of Clinical Phonoaudiology and Logopedics and then treated at the Phoniatric Outpatient Clinic of the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland in years 2013-2015. In the assessment of voice quality GRBAS scale was used, it was determined voice attack, maximum phonation time (MPT), voice self-evaluation of patients were analyzed using a questionnaire Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Visualization of the vocal fold vibration was performed using High Speed Digital Imaging (HSDI) technique. The acoustic examination of voice was made during phonation of vowel "a" and continuous linguistic text. Electrostimulation (ES) therapy was performed after determining the ratio á, which conditioned the choice of set of voice exercises (VE) and duration of one-time electrical impulse stimulation. Subjective and objective evaluation was performed before and after ES therapy. The results were compared with a group of patients that received the routine therapy without ES.

Subjective, objective and self-evaluation analysis of voice showed a improvement of its quality after ES. Increasing the mobility of vocal folds after ES resulted in an improvement of voice quality parameters in the acoustic assessment. Effectiveness of the ES therapy on the function of the vocal fold vibration was confirmed by HSDI technique.

Studies have shown that ES therapy is a valuable addition to the routine method of treatment of paralytic dysphonia.