Menopausal voice-related work limitation scale: Validity and reliability of the Turkish version (MenoVWL-TR)

Menopause is a natural life stage in women that leads to many physiological and functional changes due to hormonal shifts. These hormonal changes affect the structure and function of the vocal folds, causing deterioration in voice quality. The voice plays a critical role in the functionality and quality of life of women, especially in occupational jobs requiring voice use. This study aims to establish the Turkish validity and reliability of the Menopausal Voice-Related Work Limitation Scale (MenoVWL) (Lã et al., 2025), a measurement tool designed to assess the impact of menopause-related voice changes on work performance.

The original version of the MenoVWL (Lã et al., 2025) was translated into Turkish. The Turkish version (MenoVWL-TR) was then administered to a cohort of 219 women in Ankara, Turkey. To evaluate the reliability and validity of the MenoVWL-TR, Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed, respectively. Additionally, the Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to assess whether different menopausal stages had a significant effect on women's voices during their professional activities.

A total of 219 adult women completed the MenoVWL-TR (mean age = 45.83 ± 11.01 years). Among them 63.0% was in pre-menopausal stage, 18.3% was in peri‑menopausal and 18.7% was in post-menopausal stage. CFA indices demonstrated that the MenoVWL-TR items showed a good fit with the data, supporting the scale's structural validity. To assess reliability, the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was 0.947 indicating high reliability and supporting the reproducibility of the MenoVWL-TR. According to comparison results, different menopausal stages had a significant effect on women voices (p = 0.024).

Voice changes during menopause manifest not as a general voice impairment, but rather as functional and work-related voice limitations. While these limitations are independent of professional use, they significantly increase with increased daily voice use. MenoVWL-TR, which allows for the functional assessment of voice changes due to menopause, is a valid and reliable tool for evaluating work-related voice limitations.