Relationship between nasal valve changes and nasalance of the voice.

Objective: It is well known that the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses affect the acoustic characteristics of the voice as resonators. Any expansion in nasal valve area, the narrowest segment of the nasal cavity, affects the nasal resistance and therefore has the potential to alter the nasalance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nasal valve changes on nasalance of the voice by using an external nasal dilator strip that widens the nasal valve area.

Study Design: Before-and-after study.

Setting: Tertiary university hospital.

Subjects And Methods: Healthy volunteer subjects who had no nasal or voice-related complaints were enrolled in the study. All subjects underwent acoustic rhinometry and nasometry before and while wearing a commercially available external nasal dilator strip. The data with and without the nasal strip were compared.

Results: Twenty-five subjects were enrolled in the study. After the application of nasal strips, statistically significant increases were observed in the minimal cross-sectional area of the nasal valve. However, there were no significant changes in the nasalance measurements.

Conclusion: Despite increasing the nasal valve area, application of the nasal strips did not cause any significant change in nasalance scores in healthy subjects, showing no relationship between the nasal valve and nasalance of the voice.