Voice rest after vocal fold polyp surgery: A Swedish register study of 588 patients.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of voice rest on patient-reported voice outcome 4 months after vocal fold polyp surgery.

Methods: Preoperative information was collected about age, sex, and smoking habits and the voice handicap index-10 (VHI-10). Four months postoperatively, voice rest (total voice rest, spoke single words, and spoke normally), and pre and postoperative voice therapy were reported.

Treatment of vocal fold scarring with autologous bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells-first phase I/II human clinical study: commentary to response.

We would like to thank for the interest for the article and comments in the response. We believe that cell therapy may offer a treatment for severe voice problems in patients with vocal fold scarring and MSC treatment is a valuable alternative.

Treatment of vocal fold scarring with autologous bone marrow-derived human mesenchymal stromal cells-first phase I/II human clinical study.

Background: Vocal fold (VF) scarring, caused by surgery or inflammation, often results in severe voice problems or aphonia. Effective lasting treatment is lacking. Previous in vitro and in vivo animal studies reported positive effects on VF scar resolution with mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) implantation.

Hyaluronan Hydrogels for the Local Delivery of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells to the Injured Vocal Fold.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) promote wound healing by expediting the inflammatory phase. Local injection of MSCs into injured vocal folds (VFs) is effective in animal models, suggesting suitability for clinical translation. Despite their therapeutic potential, MSCs do not persist within the VF.

Mesenchymal stromal cells modulate tissue repair responses within the injured vocal fold.

Objectives/hypothesis: This study aimed to determine whether local injection of human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) could modulate the early inflammatory response within injured vocal folds (VFs) to promote wound-healing processes.

Study Design: Experimental xenograft model.

Methods: VF injury was surgically induced by bilateral resection of the lamina propria of rabbits, and MSC were immediately injected into the injured area of both VFs.

Effects of Gender-confirming Pitch-raising Surgery in Transgender Women a Long-term Follow-up Study of Acoustic and Patient-reported Data.

Objectives: Transgender women often seek to feminize their voice so that it becomes congruent with their gender identity. Many receive voice therapy (VT) with good results. Some also need pitch-raising surgery.

Background Factors and Subjective Voice Symptoms in Patients with Acquired Vocal Fold Scarring and Sulcus Vocalis.

Objective: Vocal fold scarring (VFS) and sulcus vocalis (SV) often result in severe and chronic voice disorders. This study compares subjective voice complaints as rated with the Voice Handicap Index and etiological factors for patients with VFS and SV.

Patients And Methods: Data were collected from the medical records at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Karolinska University Hospital, for 27 VFS patients and 27 SV patients.

Tissue engineering in the larynx and airway.

Purpose Of Review: Tissue engineering is a rapidly expanding field in medicine and involves regeneration and restoration of many organs, including larynx and the airways. Currently, this is not included in routine practice; however, a number of clinical trials in humans are ongoing or starting. This review will cover publications during the past 2 years and the focus is on larynx and trachea.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Vocal Folds in Women With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia and Virilized Voices.

Purpose: Women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) may develop a virilized voice due to late diagnosis or suboptimal suppression of adrenal androgens. Changes in the vocal folds due to virilization have not been studied in vivo. The purpose was to investigate if the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle is affected by virilization and correlate findings to fundamental frequency (F0).

Freddie Mercury-acoustic analysis of speaking fundamental frequency, vibrato, and subharmonics.

Freddie Mercury was one of the twentieth century's best-known singers of commercial contemporary music. This study presents an acoustical analysis of his voice production and singing style, based on perceptual and quantitative analysis of publicly available sound recordings. Analysis of six interviews revealed a median speaking fundamental frequency of 117.

Stem cell approaches for vocal fold regeneration.

Objectives/hypothesis: Current interventions in the management of vocal fold (VF) dysfunction focus on conservative and surgical approaches. However, the complex structure and precise biomechanical properties of the human VF mean that these strategies have their limitations in clinical practice and in some cases offer inadequate levels of success. Regenerative medicine is an exciting development in this field and has the potential to further enhance VF recovery beyond conventional treatments.

Stem Cell Therapy in Injured Vocal Folds: A Three-Month Xenograft Analysis of Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

We have previously shown that human embryonic stem cell (hESC) therapy to injured rabbit vocal folds (VFs) induces human tissue generation with regained VF vibratory capacity. The aims of this study were to test the sustainability of such effect and to what extent derivatives of the transplanted hESCs are propagated in the VFs. The VFs of 14 New Zealand rabbits were injured by a localized resection.

A portable high-speed camera system for vocal fold examinations.

Aim: In this article, we present a new portable low-cost system for high-speed examinations of the vocal folds. Analysis of glottal vibratory parameters from the high-speed recordings is compared with videostroboscopic recordings.

Methods And Results: The high-speed system is built around a Fastec 1 monochrome camera, which is used with newly developed software, High-Speed Studio (HSS).

Resonance tube phonation in water: High-speed imaging, electroglottographic and oral pressure observations of vocal fold vibrations--a pilot study.

Phonation into glass tubes ('resonance tubes'), keeping the free end of the tube in water, has been a frequently used voice therapy method in Finland and more recently also in other countries. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate what effects tube phonation with and without water has on the larynx. Two participants were included in the study.

Injection of human mesenchymal stem cells improves healing of vocal folds after scar excision--a xenograft analysis.

Objectives: Using a xenograft model the aim was to analyze if injection of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) into the rabbit vocal fold (VF), after excision of an established scar, can improve the functional healing of the VF.

Study Design: Prospective design with an experimental xenograft model.

Methods: The VFs of 12 New Zealand rabbits were injured by a bilateral localized resection.

Air pulse deformation measurement: a preliminary method for noninvasive vocal fold pliability analysis.

Objective: A new method, air pulse pliability measurement, is presented, with which the pliability and elasticity of the vocal folds was measured in vitro and in vivo using air pulses. The size of the mucosal movements induced by air pulse stimulation was measured with a laser-based technique.

Subjects And Methods: The air pulses fed via a 2-mm tubing, introduced through the working channel of a flexible endoscope.

Injection of human mesenchymal stem cells improves healing of scarred vocal folds: analysis using a xenograft model.

Objectives/hypothesis: The aims were to analyze if improved histological and viscoelastic properties seen after injection of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in scarred vocal folds (VFs) of rabbits are sustainable and if the injected hMSCs survive 3 months in the VFs.

Study Design: Experimental xenograft model.

Methods: Eighteen VFs of 11 New Zealand white rabbits were scarred by a bilateral localized resection.

Elasticity measurements in scarred rabbit vocal folds using air pulse stimulation.

This study aimed to compare vocal fold elasticity data from a new method for non-invasive analysis by stimulations of the mucosa with short air pulses. The depth of the mucosal deflections is measured with laser pulses by means of a special algorithm. Ten scarred New Zealand rabbit vocal folds and four normal rabbit folds were measured directly after sacrifice.

Mode of delivery modulates physiological and behavioral responses to neonatal pain.

Objective: To study whether the mode of delivery alters pain expression.

Study Design: Full-term infants born by vaginal delivery or elective caesarean section were observed following high- and low-intensity pain stimuli, with recording of electrocardiogram, facial expression and vocalization.

Result: Graded physiological and behavioral responses occurred, with greater responses to higher than lower intensity pain stimuli.

Not just sound: supplementing the voice range profile with the singer's own perceptions of vocal challenges.

A commercial phonetograph was complemented with a response button, such that presses resulted in marked regions in the voice range profile (VRP). This study reports the VRP data of 16 healthy female professionally trained singers (7 mezzo-sopranos and 9 sopranos). Subjects pressed the button to indicate sensations of vocal instability or reduced control during phonation.

Three registers in an untrained female singer analyzed by videokymography, strobolaryngoscopy and sound spectrography.

There has been a lack of objective data on the singing voice registers, particularly on the so called "whistle" register, occurring in the top part of the female pitch range, which is accessible only to some singers. This study offers unique strobolaryngoscopic and high-speed (7812.5 imagess) videokymographic data on the vocal fold behavior of an untrained female singer capable of producing three distinct voice qualities, i.

High-speed registration of phonation-related glottal area variation during artificial lengthening of the vocal tract.

Vocal exercises that increase the vocal tract impedance are widely used in voice training and therapy. The present study applies a versatile methodology to investigate phonation during varying artificial extension of the vocal tract. Two males and one female phonated into a hard-walled plastic tube (phi 2 cm), whose physical length was randomly pair-wise changed between 30 cm, 60 cm and 100 cm.