Translaryngeal Vibration for Hyperfunctional Voice Disorders
Texas Christian University
Summary
Contemporary treatments for hyperfunctional voice disorders such as muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) are effective but typically do not restore voice handicap or voice function to normal thresholds. Recent reports of vibration as a voice therapy modality have been published, but many questions remain about the efficacy of this tool. The current project addresses these problems through a blinded and randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of local translaryngeal vibration for MTD and the dose-response relationship of this modality when compared to treatment without vibration.
Description
High-quality research designs have demonstrated that voice therapy has a positive impact on hyperfunctional voice disorders associated with muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). Among the options of behavioral voice therapy for MTD, one of the most effective evidence-based approaches is flow phonation (a.k.a., stretch-and-flow voice therapy). However, the phenomenon of post-treatment outcome measures remaining substantially outside the range of normal is a ubiquitous finding in studies investigating this and other voice therapy approaches. From both a cost burden and quality of life perspective, thi…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * a) diagnosis by an otolaryngologist of hyperfunctional dysphonia (MTD) without benign mid-membranous lesion (i.e., primary MTD or non-phonotraumatic hyperfunction) with and a recommendation for voice therapy, ((b) confirmation of dysphonia by a comprehensive voice evaluation conducted by a speech-language pathologist with experience in the evaluation and treatment of voice disordered populations, (c) to prevent floor effects of our primary outcome variable, participants will be required to exhibit a pre-treatment VHI score of \>20, as this is the upper range for normal c…
Interventions
- BehavioralVoice therapy with vibration
Voice therapy with a novel vibration device will be delivered for five or eight weeks depending on group allocation. All participants will receive flow phonation voice therapy.
Location
- Texas Christian UniversityFort Worth, Texas