Effectiveness of voice therapy after recovery from COVID-19 infection: A Rare Case Report (preprint)

ABSTRACT

Introduction: COVID-19 induces ear, nose, and throat (ENT) difficulties in nearly 57.4 percent of patients. In patients with COVID-19, voice disorder and dysphonia can be created by shortness of breath, upper airway congestion, and changes in the larynx. Case Presentation We aimed to study the effect of voice therapy (VT) on a woman who suffered from long-term post-COVID-19 dysphonia and recurrent coughs that interrupted the connected speech. This study is a single case report. The patient was a 33-year-old woman referred by a laryngologist to the VT clinic with the diagnosis of muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). All voice assessments were conducted during two sessions before and after 10 sessions of VT. The evaluations included laryngostroboscopy, perceptual voice assessment, and acoustic-aerodynamic voice measurement. After that, ten sessions of Eclectic VT were done by a voice therapist. Following VT, the results showed better findings in all aspects of voice assessments. Conclusions: The results of this study showed improvement of different aspects of voice after Eclectic VT and also, and the effectiveness of VT for decreasing dysphonia post-COVID-19. Although significant improvement was achieved, there was some degree of dysphonia and recurrent coughs after VT. These findings indicated that some side-effects of COVID_19 are persistent even after VT. This case report can highlight the sensory-motor deficit hypothesis or damage in ACE2 receptor in the larynx after COVID_19, but it still needs more investigations.