Influence of smoking on voice quality

Abstract

Introduction. During smoking, specific morphological changes occur within the larynx, which results in changes in voice quality. Given that voice is related to quality of life, it is necessary to identify the impact of smoking on voice quality. Methods. A group of 85 respondents, aged 22 to 70 years (AS = 35.61; SD = 11.36), both sexes, categorized into two groups, smokers and non-smokers, were selected for this study. A recording of extended vocal A phonation was analyzed in the program for acoustic voice analysis - PRAAT. The research was realized at the Faculty of Medicine in Foca, during 2021. Results. A statistically significant difference was found in four out of the five examined voice parameters. Namely, a statistically significant difference was observed in the mean value of the fundamental frequency (Fo) (p = 0.042), jitter (p = 0.007), shimmer (p = 0.026) and in the noise-to-harmonic ratio (p = 0.018) between smokers and non-smokers. Also, a statistically significant difference was found between two subgroups of subjects (those who smoked less than 10 years and those who smoked longer than 10 years) in the fundamental voice frequency Fo (p = 0.011), standard deviation of the fundamental frequency STD (p = 0.047) and amplitude perturbation expressed through shimmer in percentage (Shim) (p = 0.017). For other examined voice parameters, no statistically significant difference was noticed between these two subgroups of respondents. Conclusion. Smoking affects most of the acoustic parameters of the voice, resulting in poorer voice quality. Also, the quality of the voice decreases as the smoking experience increases.