Relationship between Voice Fatigue and Voice Assessment in Patients with Voice Disorders and Applicability of Voice Fatigue Index in Korean Version / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vocal fatigue is a symptom and a term that has been frequently used in the clinical study. Although a recently developed vocal fatigue index (VFI), a self-report questionnaire that reliably identifies vocal fatigue patients, provides detailed characteristics of the symptom, there has been no study about the association between VFI and other voice assessment parameters. This study aimed to investigate whether there is a relationship between VFI and the established voice assessment in Korean patients. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Two hundred fifty-seven patients with voice disorders (mean age, 49.48±14.34; 145 male and 112 female) undertook the voice assessment that consisting of perceptual judgment [Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain (GRBAS) Scale], acoustic and aerodynamic analysis, and voice handicap index (VHI) questionnaire. All patients validated using VFI. Correlation analysis between each voice assessment and VFI was conducted. RESULTS: There were statistical significances between items of voice assessment and VFI. Among the GRBAS Scale, G, B, A, S and a number of acoustic measures were associated with vocal fatigue. In particular, these features were prominent in men. As the score of VFI increased, the sound pressure level during voicing and the phonation time from aerodynamic measures were decreased while the mean pitch was increased. In addition, VFI was closely correlated with pre-existing self-report questionnaire and VHI in both gender. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that VFI has a significant association with pre-established voice assessment. Therefore, VFI can be used as a reliable tool for identifying and validating vocal fatigue in Korean.