Voice Improvement in Patients with Functional Dysphonia Treated with the Proprioceptive-Elastic (PROEL) Method

• Published in: Journal of voice 2018-03, Vol.32 (2), p.209-215
• Main Authors: Lucchini, E., Ricci Maccarini, A., Bissoni, E., Borragan, M., Agudo, M., González, M.J., Romizi, V., Schindler, A., Behlau, M., Murry, T., Borragan, A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Disability Evaluation; Dysphonia - diagnosis; Dysphonia - physiopathology; Dysphonia - therapy; Elasticity; Female; Functional dysphonia; Glottis - physiopathology; Hoarseness; Humans; Judgment; Laryngoscopy; Male; Middle Aged; Multidimensional voice assessment; Phonation; Posture; Proprioception; Proprioceptive-elastic method; Prospective Studies; Recovery of Function; Speech Perception; Speech Production Measurement; Speech-Language Pathology - methods; Stroboscopy; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome; Voice Quality; Voice therapy; Voice Training; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0892-1997; 1873-4588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2017.05.018

The objective of the study was to analyze the outcome of the proprioceptive-elastic (PROEL) voice therapy method in patients with functional dysphonia (FD). Fifty-two patients with FD were involved in the study; they were composed of three subgroups of patients with (1) FD without glottal insufficiency (n = 28), (2) FD and glottal insufficiency (n = 9), and (3) FD, glottal insufficiency, and vocal nodules (n = 15). A multidimensional assessment protocol including videolaryngostroboscopy; maximum phonation time; perceptual evaluation of dysphonia with the Grade, Instability, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain (GIRBAS) scale; and 10-item version of the Voice Handicap Index was conducted before and after 15 sessions of voice therapy. All voice therapy sessions were conducted by the same speech-language pathologist. The comparison between voice assessment before and after voice therapy with the PROEL method in patients with FD, in all the three subgroups, revealed a statistically significant improvement in periodicity and the mucosal wave in the laryngostroboscopy, maximum phonation time, GIRBAS scale scores, and VHI-10. Voice of patients with FD improved after treatment with the PROEL method. Further studies are needed to analyze the efficacy of the PROEL method with randomized double-blind clinical trials using different methods for voice therapy. At present, the PROEL method represents an alternative tool for the speech pathologist to improve voice in patients with FD.