The effect of tonsillectomy on voice quality

Abstract

Introduction/Objective Tonsillitis is a very common condition found in the pediatric population but also in adult patients. One of the consequences of such conditions is poor voice quality. Hoarseness, poor voice impostation, interruption, and hypernazalization are just some of the differences in patient voice quality. The objective of this paper was to examine the effects of tonsillectomy on the voice quality. Methods the sample included 37 patients, 17 female and 20 male, ranging in age 3-39 years. The method involved recording patients one month before and one month after tonsillectomy with a digital sound recorder, with recordings analyzed in the Praat program. The variables monitored in the basic voice were as follows: voice pitch, standard deviation of voice, degree of voice interruption, jitter, shimmer, and signal-to-noise ratio. In the statistical analysis, in addition to standard descriptive analyzes, t-test and ACNOVA were also used. Results the results showed that there are effects of tonsillectomy on standard deviation of baseline voice (p = 0.002), shimmer (p = 0.002), baseline voice interruption rate (p = 0.023), signal to noise ratio (p = 0.003). There were no differences in the effects of tonsillectomy with respect to the sex of the subjects. Conclusion Based on the conducted research, there were some methodological conclusions that could be considered as a recommendation for future research: increase the number of persons in the sample, introduce a variable of chronological age, type of surgical intervention, and gradation of size of the tonsil and adenoid tissue.

Uvod/Cilj Oboljenja tonzila su veoma česta stanja koja se sreću u pedijatrijskoj populaciji ali i kod odraslih bolesnika. Jedna od posledica ovakvih stanja je loš kvalitet glasa. Promuklost, loša impostacija glasa, prekidnost i hipernazalizacija samo su neka odstupanja od normalnog kvaliteta glasa bolesnika. Cilj ovog rada je bio da se ispitaju efekti tonzilektomije na kvalitet glasa. Metode U uzorku je bilo 37 bolesnika, i to 17 ženskog i 20 muškog pola, starosti 3-39 godina. Metod je podrazumevao snimanje bolesnika pre i mesec dana posle tonzilektomije digitalnim snimačem zvuka; snimak je analiziran u programu Praat. Varijable koje su praćene u osnovnom glasu su visina glasa, standardna devijacija glasa, stepen prekidnosti glasa, jitter, shimmer i odnos signal-šum. U statističkoj analizi pored standardnih deskriptivnih analiza korišćeni su t-test i ACNOVA. Rezultati Rezultati pokazuju da postoje efekti tonzilektomije na standardnu devijaciju glasa (p = 0,002), stepen prekidnosti glasa (p = 0,002), shimmer (p = 0,023) i odnos signal-šum (p = 0,003). Nema razlika u efektima tonzilektomije u odnosu na pol ispitanika. Zaključak Na osnovu sprovedenog istraživanja došlo se i do nekih metodoloških zaključaka koji bi se mogli posmatrati kao preporuka za buduća istraživanja: povećati broj osoba u uzorku, uvesti varijablu hronološkog uzrasta, vrstu hirurške intervencije i gradaciju veličine tonzila i adenoidnog tkiva.