Glottal Closure in Women with No Voice Complaints or Laryngeal Disorders

Introduction: The understanding of normal vocal production is essential to guide any voice professional as it is fundamental to understand the effects of the posterior glottal gap on the vocal quality. Objective: The aim of the present study was to verify the association between glottic closure, acoustic parameters, and some characteristics of the videolaryngostroboscopy of young women without vocal complaints nor laryngeal disorders. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 56 women between 20 and 30 years old who underwent videolaryngostroboscopy. The acoustic parameters of the vowel /a:/ were analyzed using the Praat software, Release 4.6.10 (Paul Boersman and David Weenik, Amsterdam, Netherlands). Statistical Analysis: The chi-squared, Fischer, and Kruskall-Wallis tests were applied, with 5% significance. Results: Significant occurrence of posterior glottal gap (85.71%, p < 0.001), of normal vocal folds vibration amplitude (82.14%, p < 0.001), and of absence of significant constriction of the laryngeal vestibule (98.21%, p < 0.001); no significant association of the glottic closure with the vocal acoustic parameters; no significant association of glottic closure, vocal folds vibration amplitude, and constriction of the laryngeal vestibule. Conclusion: There was a predominance of posterior glottal gap, normal vocal folds vibration amplitude, and absence of laryngeal vestibule constriction, and no relation with the acoustic parameters, suggesting that the posterior glottal gap did not generate impact on the vocal production of the young adult women studied (AU)

The Clinical Usefulness of Aerodynamic Test Using the Airway Interruption Method in Patients with Laryngeal Disorders / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The airway interruption method was developed as a combination of the measurement of expiratory pressure, mean air flow, intensity, and frequency. We evaluated the clinical usefulness of the airway interruption method in measuring vocal frequency, vocal intensity, mean air flow rate and expiratory air pressure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed phonatory function tests in the patients with vocal nodule (n=380), vocal polyp (n=41), vocal sulcus (n=20), laryngitis (n=72), vocal paralysis (n=10) and glottic cancer, T 1 (n=5). And these results were compared with normal values which were reported previously. In 91 patients with vocal nodule and 5 patients with polyp, phonatory function test was followed up after laryngomicrosurgery and compared with preoperative test. RESULTS: In patients with vocal nodule and polyp, mean air flow rate was significantly increased (p<0.05). In polyp, these differences were greater than nodule group. In vocal paralysis, mean air flow rate was significantly increased than other groups. In glottic cancer (T1), expiratory air pressure was significantly increased than other groups. In laryngitis and sulcus vocalis, mean air flow rate was increased in some phonation methods. But their differences were less significant than other groups. After laryngomicrosurgery, mean air flow rate and expiratory air pressure were decreased in both groups. CONCLUSION: The aerodynamic test using the airway interruption method is a noninvasive, easy to perform and reliable for evaluation of aerodynamic conditions at the glottis. This research finds that the interruption method is effective both in evaluation of the treatment and in postoperative assessments of the laryngeal disorder patients.

Phoniatrical Evaluation of Various Laryngeal Disorders

In some specific measurement, observations, and analyses of certain aspects of the voice and voice production used in phoniatrics, signs of various laryngeal disorders were identified, indicating that these tools can be used as aids in the diagnosis of laryngeal disorders.