Avaliação do Voice Handicap Index em pacientes com perda auditiva neurossensorial bilateral a partir de grau moderado

Abstract

Voi ce and speech are regulated by hearing. Vocal disorders in patients with hearing loss have not been evaluated yet as to the subjective degree of disability they cause in this group. Aim: to compare the results of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) obtained for patients with normal hearing and moderate to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. Study design: Controlled, cross-sectional. Materials and Methods: A total of 76 adult patients being treated on a University Otolaryngology center were enrolled (38 with and 38 without hearing loss), ages ranging between 19 and 59 years, were asked to complete the Portuguese version of the VHI. Results: Total VHI score median values obtained were 23.5 and 4.0 for the study and control groups, respectively (p = 0.000). Significant differences between the two groups were found for all three VHI subscales (functional, physical and emotional) (p = 0.000). Conclusion: Our results lead us to infer a greater social and economical disadvantage as per assessed in the VHI of patients with moderate and higher bilateral sensorineural hearing loss.

Influência do sexo, idade, profissão e diagnóstico fonoaudiológico na qualidade de vida em voz

“…Thus, it appears that the emotional impact was greater in males, so that results in the two protocols were similar. This finding agrees with two studies that compared gender with VHI protocol and did not observed significant differences 19,20 .…”

“…According to the literature, the age variable deserves attention, because as age advance, the vocal efficiency decreases, with greater or lesser vocal impact 13 , and a positive correlation was found between the total score of VHI and age 19 . Other studies have also found that elderly showed lower scores of V-RQOL compared to younger individuals, realizing greater impact of dysphony on their quality of life 23,24 .…”

“…It is about functionally simple protocols, easy to apply, which have clear questions, thus becoming clinical tools for the assessment of treatment results. Also, provide more refined understanding of the dimensions of the effects of a voice problem in the patient's life and their psychosocial consequences, through selfawareness about their dysphonia, despite criticism on its preparation 1,4,9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] .…”

Relação entre autoavaliação vocal e dados da avaliação clínica em indivíduos disfônicos

“…In Brazil most part of researches performed with the questionnaires quoted above has focus in the self-assessment specific group results, as for voice professionals' category or diverse pathology carriers [11][12][13][14][15] . In some cases, the data collection meet the subjects, which not necessarily have a voice disturb and/or sought for speech language pathology help 11,12 .…”

“…In some cases, the data collection meet the subjects, which not necessarily have a voice disturb and/or sought for speech language pathology help 11,12 .…”