OBJETIVO: comparar as diferenças quanto à presença dos hábitos inadequados, as formas de prevenção e os sintomas vocais, mais freqüentes, em dois grupos da terceira idade. MÉTODOS: foi aplicado um questionário com questões do tipo fechada, previamente elaboradas em 45 idosos de ambos os sexos, sendo que apenas um grupo recebeu orientações vocais durante o ano anterior à pesquisa por um profissional fonoaudiólogo. É um estudo descritivo, observacional, transversal. RESULTADOS: de acordo com os resultados, o grupo 2 que recebeu orientação vocal, possui menor freqüência de hábitos inadequados quando comparado ao grupo 1. Quanto às formas de prevenção de distúrbios da voz, a maioria do grupo 1, não possui nenhum cuidado. No grupo 2, já se constata, entre outras formas de prevenção, a referência de realização de treinamento vocal. Com relação à presença de sintomas, o grupo 1 apresentou maior freqüência quanto a cansaço ao falar (50%), dor na garganta (50%), sensação de corpo estranho (67%), do que o grupo 2. CONCLUSÃO: observa-se que houve diferenças quanto hábitos inadequados, formas de prevenção e sintomas nos dois grupos, sendo que o grupo 2 (que recebeu orientação quanto aos cuidados com a voz) possui índices menores quanto aos hábitos inadequados e sintomas vocais, ou seja, de acordo com os resultados, orientações sobre saúde vocal em grupos de terceira idade é eficaz.

The voice varies according to the context of speech and to the physical and psychological conditions of the human being, and there is always a normal standard for the vocal output. Hearing loss can impair voce production, causing social, educational, and speech limitations, with specific deviation of the communication related to speech and voice. Usually, the voice is not the main focus of the speech-language pathology therapy with individuals with hearing loss, but its deviations can represent such a negative impact on this population that it can interfere on speech intelligibility and crucially compromise the social integration of the individual. The literature vastly explores acoustic and perceptual characteristics of children and adults with hearing loss. Voice problems in individuals with this impairment are directly related to its type and severity, age, gender, and type of hearing device used. While individuals with mild and moderate hearing loss can only present problems with resonance, severely impaired individuals may lack intensity and frequency control, among other alterations. The commonly found vocal deviations include strain, breathiness, roughness, monotone, absence of rhythm, unpleasant quality, hoarseness, vocal fatigue, high pitch, reduced volume, loudness with excessive variation, unbalanced resonance, altered breathing pattern, brusque vocal attack, and imprecise articulation. These characteristics are justified by the incapability of the deaf to control their vocal performance due to the lack of auditory monitoring of their own voice, caused by the hearing loss. Hence, the development of an intelligible speech with a good quality of voice on the hearing impaired is a challenge, despite the sophisticated technological advances of hearing aids, cochlear implants and other implantable devices. The purpose of this chapter is therefore to present an extensive review of the literature and describe our experience regarding the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of voice disorders in individuals with hearing loss.

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Purpose: to investigate the presence of vocal symptoms and handicap in adults with cochlear implants, and verify the correlation with their self-perception of the voice quality. Methods: twenty-seven adults of both genders, with cochlear implants, in the age range of 19 to 57 years participated. The participants answered the self-assessment protocols Voice Handicap Index and Voice Symptom Scale. Furthermore, the participants answered an additional question about how they rated their voices. Results: for the Voice Handicap Index, the average score was 28.74, in total, and the average score for the Voice Symptom Scale was 29.22, in total. The correlation between the scores of the Voice Handicap Index and the self-perception of the voice showed that the worse the perception, the more handicap in every domain of the protocol. For the Voice Symptoms Scale, the results showed that there is a positive and moderate correlation between the self-perception of the voice and the total scores as well as for the impairment and emotional subscales. Conclusion: this study verified the presence of handicap and symptoms related to voice, mainly, regarding physical, functional and limitation aspects for the adults with cochlear implants. There is a positive and moderate correlation between the score of the protocols applied and self-evaluation of the vocal quality of the participants.

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