Abstract:
Patients who suffer from sinus disease often report voice changes following sinus surgery. This is typically characterized as a reduction in vocal quality described perceptually as denasal. Pre-operative voices are also perceptually mild to moderately hoarse or breathy indicating some degree of irregularity in vocal fold vibration. This investigation characterized the laryngeal and nasal components of the acoustic signal in patients with sinus disease treated surgically. Acoustic measures from digital tape-recorded speech samples were analyzed pre- and post-operatively. Post-operative voice samples demonstrated acoustic characteristics consistent with increased nasal resonance. This is contrasted with pre-operative samples in which the acoustic correlates of nasalization were diminished. Noise factors associated with a loss of harmonic structure and perturbation in vocal fold vibration often associated with hoarse or breathy vocal quality were found. Significant laryngeal pathology was apparent in all samples using laryngeal videostroboscopic endoscopy. This study demonstrates significant vocal quality changes associated with sinus disease which are improved following surgery. Further, there is a strong correlation between hoarse vocal quality, laryngeal pathology, and sinus disease not often considered in the evaluation or treatment of patients with sinus disease. [Work supported by NIH.]