The Treatment of Muscle Tension Dysphonia: A Comparison of Two Treatment Techniques by Means of an Objective Multiparameter Approach

Summary The purpose of the present study is to measure the effectiveness of two treatment techniques—vocalization with abdominal breath support and manual circumlaryngeal therapy (MCT)—in patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). The vocal quality before and after the two treatment techniques wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of voice 2010-05, Vol.24 (3), p.294-301
Main Authors: Van Lierde, Kristiane M, Bodt, Marc De, Dhaeseleer, Evelien, Wuyts, Floris, Claeys, Sofie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Analysis of Variance
Dysphonia - therapy
Dysphonia severity index
Female
Humans
Larynx
Male
Manual circumlaryngeal therapy
Middle Aged
Muscle tension dysphonia
Muscle Tonus
Musculoskeletal Manipulations - methods
Otolaryngology
Phonation
Respiration
Severity of Illness Index
Speech Acoustics
Time Factors
Treatment Outcome
Voice Quality
Voice therapy
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Summary:Summary The purpose of the present study is to measure the effectiveness of two treatment techniques—vocalization with abdominal breath support and manual circumlaryngeal therapy (MCT)—in patients with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). The vocal quality before and after the two treatment techniques was measured by means of the dysphonia severity index (DSI), which is designed to establish an objective and quantitative correlate of the perceived vocal quality. The DSI is based on the weighted combination of the following set of voice measurements: maximum phonation time (MPT), highest frequency, lowest intensity, and jitter. The repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant difference between the objective overall vocal quality before and after MCT. No significant differences were measured between the objective overall vocal quality before and after vocalization with abdominal breath support. This study showed evidence that MCT is an effective treatment technique for patients with elevated laryngeal position, increased laryngeal muscle tension, and MTD. The precise way in which MCT has an effect on vocal quality has not been addressed in this experiment, but merits study. Further research into this topic could focus on electromyography (EMG) recordings in relation to vocal improvements with larger sample of subjects.
ISSN:0892-1997
1873-4588
DOI:10.1016/j.jvoice.2008.09.003