Voice Handicap Index, Vocal Tract Discomfort, and Acoustic and Perceptual Evaluations in Speech-Language Pathologists

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs), in line with their professional duties, have to use their voice frequently and preserve it at an optimal level of quality. There is little research on the effect of vocal status on the life of SLPs; therefore, the relationship between voice handicap index (VHI), acoustic, and perceptual parameters of voice among SLPs was determined as the subject of this study.

Sixty-two SLPs with a mean age of 32.9 ± 7.7 years were studied. They were divided into two groups by vocal complaint questionnaire: with (n = 48) and without (n = 14) vocal complaints (WVC and WOVC). Perceptual assessments were VHI-30, vocal tract discomfort (VTD) scale, and Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V). Finally, acoustic analysis was performed for F0, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-to-noise ratio. A comparison of differences for VHI-30, VTD, CAPE-V, and acoustic measures was made between the two groups, and Spearman's correlation coefficient between acoustic measures, CAPE-V, and VTD with VHI-30 was calculated. The level of significance was set at α = 0.05.

Despite the lack of significant differences in acoustic and CAPE-V measures between the WVC and WOVC groups (P > 0.05), there were significantly higher VHI-30 scores (P < 0.001) and frequency (P = 0.01) and severity (P = 0.02) of VTD in the WVC group. A significant positive correlation was observed between VHI-30 with frequency and severity of VTD (P < 0.01), but no significant correlation was found between acoustic measures and CAPE-V measures with VHI-30 (P > 0.05).

However, the two groups had considerable differences in VHI-30 scores and VTD. Neither of the participants had "voice disorder" based on the cut-off of VHI-30 and the range of acoustic and CAPE-V measures. It may be related to clinical experiences with vocal health. On the other hand, any sensation in the throat may be correlated to voice handicap straightly and should be noticed more by SLPs.