Introduction: Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) are frequently used exercises in voice therapy. An important shortcoming to most SOVTEs is the inability to include continuous speech in these exercises. A variation of water-resistance therapy (WRT), during which a patient phonates through a resonance tube ending in water, was developed to include continuous speech: the semi-occluded water resistance ventilation mask (SOVM-WR). The current study investigated the immediate effects of this innovative technique on vocal outcomes of women with dysphonia.
Methods: A pretest-posttest randomized controlled trial was performed. Twenty female participants were randomly assigned to the experimental SOVM-WR group or the WRT (control) group. A blinded multidimensional voice assessment was conducted before and after a 30-minute therapy session with the assigned technique.
Results: No significant changes were found in acoustic or auditory-perceptual vocal outcomes in either of the groups, except for a significant increase in lowest frequency in both groups. Patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) showed significant improvements of vocal comfort, vocal effort, and voice quality in both groups, and participants indicated that they would use the techniques at home.
Conclusions: The similar results of the SOVM-WR to WRT and promising PROMs confirm its suitability as an alternative to the latter technique. Potential reasons for a lack of improvement of objective and auditory-perceptual vocal outcomes are vocal fatigue, tube dimensions and immersion, and the small sample size. Large-scale and longitudinal research is needed to examine whether the SOVM-WR has a higher transfer to spontaneous speech than WRT after a full therapy program.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2023.106331 | DOI Listing |
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg
January 2025
Divisions of Pediatric Surgery and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Stollery Children's Hospital and University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Objective: To report the clinical and laryngeal electromyographic (LEMG) parameters of children with laryngeal dyskinesia (LD) and its prevalence among laryngeal mobility disorder (LMD) requiring full airway examination.
Study Design: Retrospective uncontrolled study.
Setting: Tertiary pediatric center.
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol
January 2025
Discipline of Surgery, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
Background: Outpatient hysteroscopy (OPH) is an important diagnostic and therapeutic intervention in gynaecology. However, the most common reason for failure is pain. Currently, there is no consensus regarding analgesia for OPH amongst the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJTCVS Open
December 2024
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Mass.
Objective: For neonatal repair of coarctation of the aorta, patients may either undergo thoracotomy with extended end-to-end anastomosis or sternotomy for aortic arch reconstruction with cardiopulmonary bypass. The objective of this study was to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of the 2 approaches in patients with arch hypoplasia.
Methods: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study from July 2005 through May 2022 of patients who underwent neonatal repair for isolated coarctation of the aorta with additional arch hypoplasia.
Nat Commun
January 2025
Division of Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Malnutrition affects over 30 million children annually and has profound immediate and enduring repercussions. Survivors often suffer lasting neurocognitive consequences that impact academic performance and socioeconomic outcomes. Mechanistic understanding of the emergence of these consequences is poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Speech Lang Pathol
January 2025
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Iowa, Iowa City.
Purpose: This scoping review aimed to explore the use of volitional voice tasks in assessing swallowing-related outcomes and to evaluate their therapeutic impact on swallowing disorders, including their effects on swallowing biomechanics.
Method: This scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. A literature search was performed across multiple databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus), and additional records were identified through manual searches.
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