Indirect Vocal Therapy as a Treatment Program for Behavioral Dysphonia: A Pilot Study.

Area of Science:

• Speech and Language Pathology
• Behavioral Medicine

Background:

• Indirect Vocal Therapy (IVT) aims to modify behavior, emotions, and environment for vocal quality restoration.
• Previous studies on IVT components yielded conflicting results, necessitating further research.
• Behavioral dysphonia requires effective therapeutic strategies to manage vocal issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce an Indirect Vocal Therapy (IVT) program based on Van Stan et al.'s taxonomy.
• To analyze the preliminary effects of this IVT program on vocal comfort in behavioral dysphonia patients.
• To assess changes in vocal fatigue, symptoms, handicap, and quality via self-assessment and objective measures.

Main Methods:

• A prospective pilot study involving nine participants with behavioral dysphonia.
• An 8-session IVT program focusing on vocal health, general health, emotional factors, and motivation.
• Assessment using Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI), Voice Symptoms Scale (VoiSS), Vocal Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30), acoustic analysis, and auditory-perceptual evaluation (GRBASI).

Main Results:

• Self-reported scores for VFI, VoiSS, and VHI significantly decreased post-therapy and at follow-up.
• Vocal comfort and self-perceived vocal parameters showed improvement.
• Acoustic measures and auditory-perceptual analysis revealed no significant changes in vocal quality.

Conclusions:

• The IVT program demonstrated positive effects on self-reported vocal comfort and related parameters.
• Further research is needed to confirm the impact of IVT on objective vocal quality in behavioral dysphonia.
• IVT shows promise as a therapeutic approach for improving patient-reported outcomes in behavioral dysphonia.