Spastic dysphonia: a perceptual test of recurrent laryngeal nerve section

An objective test of the efficacy of recurrent nerve section in the treatment of spastic dysphonia was conducted with partially trained observers in a blind rating task. It was found that, although immediate effects of the surgery as measured by a general communication effectiveness instrument could not be established, long-term (1-yr post-surgery) effects did emerge and at a high level of confidence. The results corroborate subjective judgments of the effectiveness of the Dedo procedure.