With age, physical functions decline, which influences respiratory performance. One of the physical changes associated with aging is sarcopenia, a reduction in muscle strength and power. Sarcopenia has been extensively studied in the elderly with regard to limb function but less with regard to respiratory function. Elderly individuals experience reduced muscle mass and strength in respiratory musculature, which may hinder the ability to generate adequate expiratory driving force for both ventilatory and nonventilatory activities. Increasing expiratory muscle strength may enhance an elderly individual's ability to generate and maintain the expiratory driving force critical to cough, speak, and swallow. Previous studies demonstrate that expiratory muscle strength training (EMST) improves ventilatory and nonventilatory functions. This paper discusses the potential impact that EMST can have on the rehabilitation of respiratory muscle decline, particularly in the elderly. This tutorial reviews an EMST paradigm, its physiological underpinnings, and its potential outcomes.

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Thirty-two patients (21.9%) were type I, 61 (41.8%) were type II, and 53 (36.3%) were type III. Different sulcus configuration groups had significantly different roughness and mean fundamental frequency. Type III was significantly different from type I and type II in grade, breathiness, mean flow rate, subglottic pressure, maximum phonation time, Jitter%, and harmonics to noise ratio. The pathologic sulcus showed distinctive features in electroglottograph waveform.

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The purpose of this study was to (1) establish a Korean adult normative database for phonatory aerodynamic measures obtained with the KayPENTAX Phonatory Aerodynamic System (PAS) Model 6600, (2) investigate the intra-subject reliability of these measures across three testing sessions, and (3) examine the effect of gender on those measures. 170 healthy normal speakers (70 men and 100 women) between the ages 18 and 49 years participated in the study. The PAS protocol of maximum phonation and voicing efficiency were conducted and 25 measures were obtained. All aerodynamic measures taken in this study demonstrated high intra-subject reliability in clinical aspect. There were no significant effect of gender in the measures related to sound pressure and subglottal pressure. However, significant differences for gender were found for phonation time, airflow rate, expiratory volume, aerodynamic power, SPL range, pitch range, mean pitch, aerodynamic resistance, and aerodynamic efficiency. Clinicians should be aware of significant gender effects in some aerodynamic parameters when interpreting the data obtained from PAS.

Background and Objectives This study was to investigate the voice quality and articulation effects of laryngeal massage on muscle tension dysphonia (MTD).Materials and Method A systematic review of articles published between January 2000 and December 2020 in Cochrane, PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpingerLink, ERIC, and Naver Academic was conducted. From the total of 2094 articles identified, 10 peer-reviewed articles were included in a meta-analysis. Mean effect sizes of the variables related to voice quality (jitter, shimmer, harmonic to noise ratio or noise to harmonic ratio, high-F0, low-I, cepstral peak prominence) and articulation (F1, F2, F1 slope, F2 slope) were calculated by Hedges’g.Results Meta-analysis of the selected articles showed that laryngeal massage had medium to large effects on all variables of voice quality and articulation except F0-high and F1 slope in the MTD patients.Conclusion This study provided comprehensive clinical evidence that it is highly desirable to apply laryngeal massage to MTD patients.

The subsidy of developmental rehabilitation service (voucher) has gone unchanged for more than 10 years without consideration of rising prices or minimum wages, and thus they do not provide high quality rehabilitation services. The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of the parents of disabled children using vouchers in regards to the use status and subsidy appropriateness of vouchers, in particular, vouchers for speech-language therapy (ST) services. Methods: A questionnaire consisted of 24 questions about the use status and subsidy appropriateness of vouchers and vouchers for ST was distributed to parents of disabled children who were currently using vouchers. Two hundred seventy-six questionnaires were collected and analyzed. Results: Eighty-five percent of the respondents answered that the current subsidy of voucher was not appropriate, with the most frequent response being that KRW 310,000-400,000 would be the appropriate amount. Most children were receiving two types of therapy using vouchers, and the most commonly used type of therapy was ST. The number of ST sessions per month using vouchers was 4 times, however the number of ST session believed to be necessary was 8 times. Seventy-four percent of the respondents said that they paid more than KRW 80,000 in addition to voucher. Conclusion: The developmental rehabilitation service voucher has been provided for the purpose of improving the functioning of disabled children and alleviating the burden of their family, however there is not enough voucher support to achieve t purpose, and it is necessary to increase the amount of voucher subsidy.