The role of experience on judgments of dysphonia.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were (1) to determine differences in judgments of overall severity (OS) and vocal effort (VE) of dysphonic speech when judgments were made by experienced and inexperienced listeners, and when self-rated by individuals with dysphonia; and (2) to determine relationships between auditory-perceptual judgments of voice and voice handicap.

Study Design: Prospective and exploratory.

Methods: Twenty speakers with dysphonia and four normal controls provided speech recordings.