Bi-Weekly Voice Therapy Versus Weekly Voice Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia

Chin-Wen Chang; Sherry Fu; Yi-Hsuan Yu; Li-Chun Hsieh

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.07.004

Bi-Weekly Voice Therapy Versus Weekly Voice Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia

J Voice. 2023 Sep 1:S0892-1997(23)00211-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.07.004. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chin-Wen Chang¹, Sherry Fu², Yi-Hsuan Yu¹, Li-Chun Hsieh³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
² Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Lower School, Taipei American School, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Electronic address: lichunhsieh1978@gmail.com.

PMID: 37661523
DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.07.004

Abstract

Objectives: To compare the outcomes of bi-weekly voice therapy (BWVT) with weekly voice therapy on perception, acoustics, and quality of life for individuals with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD).

Methods: Thirty participants with MTD were enrolled either BWVT (40 min/session, two sessions per week for 4 weeks) or weekly voice therapy (40 min/session, once a week for 8 weeks). Auditory perceptual ratings, acoustic parameters, and the Mandarin version of the voice-related quality of life questionnaire (MV-RQOL) scores were statistically analyzed before and after treatment.

Results: There were significant improvements in the voice qualities such as overall grade, roughness, asthenia, and strain in both groups after treatment. Acoustics analyses showed that fundamental frequency, speaking fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and cepstral peak prominence significantly improved in both groups after treatment. For the MV-RQOL questionnaire scores, the result also demonstrated that both groups felt significant improvements in voice-related quality of life after treatment. However, there were no significant differences between the two groups of treatment effects.

Conclusions: Patients with MTD can restore voice qualities and quality of life if they are able to complete a full course of voice therapy, regardless of the intensity of voice therapy. However, if they can receive the BWVT, they would be able to regain their voice faster. The results of this study can be provided as a reference for clinicians when treating patients with MTD.

Keywords: Acoustic; Bi-weekly voice therapy; Muscle tension dysphonia; Voice therapy; Voice-related quality of life.