Increasing the Speech Intelligibility by the Use of Voice Therapy in Patients with Profound Hearing Loss

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate changes in the acoustic properties of voice in patients with profound sensorineural hearing loss to determine the effectiveness of voice therapy. Material-Method: Our study consisted of 15 individuals from the 20-25 years of age with bilateral symmetrical hearing loss (Group A), and 15 individuals in the 26-65 age group with post lingual cochlear implants (Group B). The control group (Group C) included 15 adults with the normal hearing range from the age group of 20-30. Prospective analysis methods was utilized for this research. In order to quantitatively measure the psychosocial consequences of voice-related disorders the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) was given, and, to determine the acoustic measures of the voice quality, the /ah/ sound was digitally recorded with the Multidimensional Voice Program (Kay Elemetrics) in all groups. Conclusion: Average Fundamental frequency (F0), jitter percentage (jitter), shimmer, noise-harmonic ratio (NHR), voice turbulence index (VTI), soft phonation index (SPI), PPQ and APQ parameters were analyzed through acoustic sound analysis program. When the data in Group A are compared with Group B, the acoustic parameters show a statistically significant higher value. Discussion: Speech intelligibility increased in individuals with profound hearing loss who received sound therapy and who used cochlear implants. According to the results of the VHI, individuals with cochlear implants benefit from voice therapy.