Laryngeal Aerodynamic Analysis of Glottal Valving in Children With Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is one of the most common congenital genetic disorders. Generally, individuals with Down syndrome presents perceptually strained, husky, monotonous, raucous and a typically low pitched voice quality. There are very few attempts made to investigate objective voice characteristics in these individuals. Further, there is no reported data with a specific focus on laryngeal aerodynamics in these individuals. Hence the present study aimed at performing perceptual (GRBAS scale) and laryngeal aerodynamic assessments of the voice (Aeroview 1.4.4 version. The clinical group consists of 17 children with down syndrome (12 boys and 5 girls) aged 4.5 to 10 years. The obtained results were compared with that of an age-matched typically developing control group. Perceptual evaluations showed significant differences in the group of children with Down syndrome. The laryngeal aerodynamic evaluation revealed significantly increased ESGP and LAR in children with down syndrome than the control group on Mann-Whitney U at p<0.005. Though MAFR values were found to be less in these individuals compared to controls, the difference was not statistically significant on Mann-Whitney U at p<0.005. Hence, the author concluded that laryngeal hyper function as a plausible cause for the strained and guttural quality of voice in children with down syndrome. It is also highlighted to verify the efficacy of manual therapies and physiological voice therapies to improve vocal efficiency in these children.