Is Nasal Septum Deviation Severity a Significant Factor on Voice in Patients Undergoing Septoplasty?

Objective: To determine whether septoplasty is an effective factor on the voice in patients with varying degrees of nasal septum deviation.

Study Design: Descriptive study.

Place And Duration Of Study: Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ear Nose Throat Clinic, Ankara, Turkey, from November 2018 to March 2019.

Methodology: A total of 69 patients formed groups I, II and III. Groups I, II and III consisted of patients with mild, moderate and severe nasal deviation, respectively. All patients underwent septoplasty under general anesthesia. Subjective and objective voice analyses were performed for each patient preoperatively and at the postoperative third month.

Results: There was no statistical difference between the mean pre- and postoperative voice handicap ındex-30 (VHI-30) scores in group I and group II. Postoperative mean VHI-30 scores were significantly lower in group III. In groups I and II, the differences between the mean pre- and postoperative fundamental frequency (F0), frequency perturbation (jitter), amplitude perturbation (shimmer) and noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR) values were not statistically significant. While the differences between the mean preoperative and postoperative F0, jitter and NHR values in group III were not statistically significant, mean postoperative shimmer value was lower than preoperative one with significantly difference.

Conclusion: Septoplasty affects the voice positively in patients having severe septum deviation.