ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To establish psychometric indicators of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) (Latvian version) and their relationship to the psychometric indicators of the original items. STUDY DESIGN: Parallel group design. METHODS: The VHI was translated and adapted to Latvian. The translated version of the VHI (Lat-VHI) was completed by 54 patients with voice disorders and by 73 subjects without voice disorders forming the control group. A test-retest group included 54 subjects without voice problems, able to complete the questionnaire twice. The test-retest stability, internal consistency of items of the Lat-VHI, and content and convergent validity of the Latvian version of the VHI were analyzed. RESULTS: The interclass correlation coefficient ratio of all scales indicated statistically significant (P<0.001) test-retest reliability for the Lat-VHI. High internal consistency was observed among the Lat-VHI total scale (α=.96), functional (α=.92), physical (α=.86), and emotional scale (α=.91) in the patient group. The Pearson moment correlation coefficient indicates a high correlation among the Lat-VHI total scale and subscales (r>0.94), as well as a high correlation among subscales (r>0.81) in the patient group. Convergent validity of the Lat-VHI was determined by comparing the Lat-VHI results with the Voice Disorder Severity scale results. Statistically significant correlation (r=0.78, P<0.001) was discovered in the patient group. CONCLUSIONS: The Latvian version of the VHI is a psychometrically validated instrument whose indicators correspond to the psychometric indicators of the original sample.
Subject(s)
Disability Evaluation , Psychometrics/standards , Quality of Life , Severity of Illness Index , Voice Disorders/diagnosis , Voice/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Disabled Persons , Female , Humans , Language , Latvia , Male , Middle Aged , Psychometrics/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Surveys and Questionnaires/standards , Voice Disorders/physiopathology , Voice Disorders/psychology , Young AdultABSTRACT
The main condition for speech intelligibility is the specific anatomical characteristics of the human speech apparatus and harmonious work of all organs in the human vocal apparatus. The voice quality is characterized by speech intelligibility (relationship between the voice pitch, volume, timbre and speech speed). Improper functional quality (related to retention,support, stability), inappropriate design of the prosthetic base and disposition of artificial teeth are the basic reasons for dyslalia - impairment of utterance with abnormality of external speech organs. In the case of dyslalia a patient may suffer from a defective utterance of separate phonemes. When designing removable dental prostheses, it is important to evaluate the disposition of the artifical teeth (taking into account phonetic pronunciation), make a phonetically beneficial construction of the base of the dentures and restore the lost alveolar bone with the basis of removable prostheses. The aim of this study was to review literature on voice quality and the way it can be affected after the insertion of removable dental prostheses and to research the literature describing the ways how voice quality can be improved. The literature reviewed in the paper was retrieved from Science Direct, PubMed, MD Consult, Cochrane Libary databases and dates back to the period from 1990 to 2012.
