Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI): A Tool for Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of Voice Therapy in Children With Benign Vocal Fold Nodules

Fabrizio Cialente; Miriam Torsello; Duino Meucci; Maria Luisa Tropiano; Antonio Salvati; Marilena Trozzi

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.06.002

Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI): A Tool for Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of Voice Therapy in Children With Benign Vocal Fold Nodules

J Voice. 2022 Jul 8:S0892-1997(22)00156-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.06.002. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Fabrizio Cialente¹, Miriam Torsello², Duino Meucci², Maria Luisa Tropiano², Antonio Salvati², Marilena Trozzi²

Affiliations

¹ Airway Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical Specialties, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: fabrizio.cialente@hotmail.it.
² Airway Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical Specialties, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy.

PMID: 35817625
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.06.002

Abstract

Objectives: benign vocal fold lesions (BVFLs) represent the most common etiology of voice disorders in paediatric population, cause of dysphonia by preventing full vocal fold closure and modifying vibratory characteristics. Of those pathologies, vocal fold nodules represent almost 63% of the cases in children between 0-14 years. Management may include a combination of phonosurgery, voice therapy and pharmacological treatment, but almost 95% of otolaryngologists recommend voice therapy as primary treatment. The Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI) is nowadays widely used and accepted in the evaluation and monitoring of paediatric patients with dysphonia. The aim of our study was to demonstrate the reliability and validity of PVHI in the evaluation of the effects of voice therapy as treatment of vocal fold nodules in the paediatric population.

Patients and method: in this retrospective chart review twenty-seven (27) dysphonic patients with bilateral vocal fold nodules were treated with behavioral voice therapy approaches, and the PVHI surveys was administered to each patient parent's before and after therapy. The age of the patients ranged from 4 to 14 years (mean age 8.7 y-o); 17 (63%) were male and 10 (37%) females.

Results: according to our results, behavioral voice therapy effectively improved pVHI scores from pre- to post-treatment in paediatric patients with bilateral vocal fold nodules.

Keywords: Benign vocal fold lesions (BVFL)—Nodules—Pediatric dysphonia—Pediatric voice handicap index (pVHI)—Voice therapy.