[Applications of the "Speech Viewer II" in voice training in vocal cord paralysis]

Referring to traditional therapeutical concepts of vocal fold paralysis a microphone-controlled computer programme was used for voice treatment in 13 patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis. 6 of these patients were female, 7 were male. The age ranged from 18 to 72 years (mean: 50 years). The etiology of the paralysis was distributed as follows: post strumectomy (4 cases), post operation of the aortic arch (3 cases), post mediastinoscopy (1 case), post operation of the cervical vertebrae (1 case). 2 cases are not decided yet, 2 are probably idiopathic. The vocal fold dysfunction lasted between 24 hours and 8 years before our first examination, less than 4 weeks in 11 cases. With 1 exception (intermediate) the vocal fold position was classified as paramedian. 8 patients suffered from left, and 5 patients from right vocal fold paralysis. The voice treatment took place with a microphone-controlled speech viewer including an audio capture and playback adapter. 7 of the 15 training modules of the computer programme were chosen to be useful for voice training. Those modules can be differentiated in physical-technical modules showing voice spectra or pitch scales and in object-related modules showing images such as landscapes, animals and others. These programme-specific modules (monitor exercises) were primarily built to train the following voice qualities separately: loudness, pitch, voicing, voice onset, fundamental frequency, sustained phonation etc. Modifying certain therapeutic instructions (see Tables 1 and 2) the monitor exercises were used to improve the coordination of different voice parameters, thus resembling physiological speech.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)