J Korean Soc Laryngol Phoniatr Logoped.  2019 Jun;30(1):48-52. 10.0000/jkslpl.2019.30.1.48.

Effects of Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercise in Patients with Functional Aphonia

• Chae HR
• Kim JS
• Lee DW
• Choi SH

• KMID: 2452814
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/jkslpl.2019.30.1.48

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Functional aphonia is characterized by incomplete closure of the vocal folds. Semi-occluded vocal tract exercise (SOVTE) allows smoothly vocal folds collision without damage to the vocal folds tissues to produce normal vocal intensity. The purpose of this study is to report the effect of SOVTE in patients with functional aphonia. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Seven patients diagnosed with functional aphonia were treated with 1-3 voice therapy sessions using voiced lip-trill, humming, Lax Vox in SOVTE. To assess the effectiveness of semi-occluded vocal tract exercise, cepstral analysis and auditory perceptual assessment were performed before and after voice therapy.
RESULTS
F0 (fundamental frequency), CPP (cepstral peak prominence) and L/H ratio (low/high spectral ratio) were significantly increased, while CPP Standard deviation, L/H ratio Standard deviation were decreased. In addition, "˜Grade', "˜Breathiness' and "˜Asthenia' were significantly decreased in the GRBAS scale after SOVTE (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
In our study, SOVTE seemed to be effective to elicit voice quickly and promote vocal folds vibration without muscular effort in patients with functional aphonia.

Keyword

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercise; Functional aphonia; Voice therapy

MeSH Terms

Aphonia*
Humans
Methods
Vibration
Vocal Cords
Voice