Effect of Endotracheal Intubation on Voice

Following endotracheal intubation (ETI), voice changes can be observed quite frequently. Considering that the pressure that occurs increases as the duration of anesthesia with ETI increases, with the aim to contribute to literature, we realized objective acoustic analysis by grouping patients according to the length of surgical periods. We wanted to investigate both the impact of endotracheal intubation on the voice and how long this impact lasted by performing voice analyzes on the preoperative, postoperative first day and postoperative fifth day.

Patients were examined in three groups comprised of operations lasting less than 60 minutes depending on the operation time (1st group, n = 21), operations lasting between 60-120 minutes (2nd group, n = 21) and operations lasting longer than 120 minutes (3rd group, n = 18). For patients in all three groups, preoperative, postoperative first day and postoperative fifth day voice analyzes have been performed and compared statistically.

With the evaluation made on the postoperative first day, it was found that the jitter%, shimmer% and shimmer dB values increased significantly as the operation time increased and it was observed that the HNR values decreased significantly (for jitter% P = 0,008, for shimmer% P = 0,027, for shimmer dB P = 0,025, for HNR P = 0,028). There was no significant difference between the postoperative first day F0 values and postoperative fifth day F0, jitter%, shimmer%, shimmer dB and HNR values in all three groups.

It is possible to state that ETI makes changes in the voice in the early period, but the changes are normalized in the long term. However, multidisciplinary studies with larger patient groups are needed for more precise and clear judgments.