The Effect of Concomitant Septoplasty and Turbinate Surgery on Nasality-Related Voice Parameters

Our study aimed to reveal whether septoplasty and inferior turbinate reduction significantly impact the acoustic properties of nasalized syllables and alter subjective and objective voice parameters.

Forty patients with nasal septal deviation and bilateral grade 2 ≤ inferior turbinate hypertrophy who underwent septoplasty and bilateral inferior turbinoplasty were enrolled. Participants completed the VHI-10, VAS, and NOSE scales preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively. Changes in VAS and NOSE scores were calculated as VAS^change and NOSE^change values. Voice recordings of the sustained vowel /a/ and the word /mini/ were analysed using MDVP. Acoustic analysis was performed with the sustained vowel /a/, and spectrographic analysis was conducted with the consonants /m/, /n/, and the vowel /i/ in /mini/. Recordings were taken preoperatively and at 6 months postoperatively. Statistical analysis compared pre- and postoperative values for significant changes using SPSS Version 21.0 (IBM Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA).

A statistically significant decrease in VAS and NOSE scores was observed at 6 months postoperatively (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found in VHI-10 scores (p > 0.05). Acoustic analysis showed a significant change in pre- and postoperative F0 values (p < 0.05), but not in jitter, jitter%, shimmer, shimmer%, and NHR (p > 0.05). Spectrographic analysis revealed significant postoperative changes in the F3 and F4 formants of consonants /m/, /n/, and vowel /i/ in the word /mini/. A significant correlation was found between postoperative changes in F3 and F4 formant values for consonants /m/ and /n/ with the VAS^change value. For the NOSE^change value, a significant correlation was found only with the change in the F3 formant value for the consonant /m/.

Nasal surgeries, particularly septo-turbinoplasty, can influence voice timbre by modifying F3 and F4, which is of notable concern for professional voice users, such as singers and actors, due to the potential impact on the singer's formant cluster and overall vocal quality. Although it may not be appropriate to generalise for all rhinological surgeries, the significant changes in the F3 and F4 formants in a specific and refined patient group suggest that caution should be exercised in such surgeries, especially for professional voice users.