Validation of the Voice Handicap Index 10 (VHI-10) in the French-Speaking Cultural Environment of Quebec (VHI-10-QC)

The Voice Handicap Index (VHI) is a well-known self-administered questionnaire used to assess the patient's perception of their voice limitation. There are two validated versions in several languages: the original with 30 questions and the abbreviated version with 10 questions. The objective of this study is to validate the VHI-10 in the French-speaking cultural environment of Quebec (VHI-10-QC). The translation and validation of the questionnaire were carried out in two major stages. The translation of the 10 questions was taken directly from the VHI-QF, in which the 30-question questionnaire was validated in a French-speaking Quebec population by the team of Bourque et al. The validation was carried out on 86 patients with dysphonia and 85 healthy subjects. The mean score for patients with voice pathology was 24.1 (SD = 7.2) compared to 2.8 (SD = 3.9) for healthy patients. A score of more than 11 is considered abnormal. The most common pathology was vocal fold paralysis (23.3%). Our results demonstrated that this questionnaire, adapted to Quebec, is valid and reliable. It also has good test-retest reliability and excellent internal validity. The VHI-10-QC is a validated, useful, and rapid self-assessment tool for evaluating the severity of dysphonia perceived in the French-speaking population of Quebec. This type of self-administered questionnaire allows for the quantification of the impact of dysphonia on patients' quality of life and consequently aids in better guiding therapeutic choices.