The Effects of Respiratory Training on Voice

Inclusion Criteria

• •Ages 18 or older
• •Self-report of general good health other than voice disorder
• •Self-report of normal pulmonary function
• •Non-smoker status for at least the last 5 years
• •English as their primary language to avoid potential linguistically-based differences in acoustic measures of voice
• •Adequate visual acuity (with or without corrective lenses) to read basic graphs and print, as determined with visual screening
• •No evidence of current organic or neurologic laryngeal pathology, as assessed by nasolaryngoscopy examination and reviewed by a laryngologist
• •No prior surgery to the vocal folds
• •Do not report difficulty with swallowing
• •Not currently receiving voice therapy or other voice treatment that cannot be discontinued
• •Do not report a bilateral, severe to profound hearing loss
• •Willingness to be recorded for data collection that is necessary for this study
• •Have a confirming diagnosis of Muscle Tension Dysphonia from an otolaryngologist and speech-language pathologist
• •Demonstrate quantified auditory-perceptual dysphonia and acoustic dysphonia (Cepstral/Spectral Index of Dysphonia) that exceed normative values for the participant's age and sex
• •Based on the nasolaryngoscopy examination and assessment performed by the otolaryngologist, show one or more patterns of supraglottic activity that are consistent with adducted vocal fold hyperfunction
• •Show no evidence of abnormal, incomplete vocal fold closure patterns as determined on the videostroboscopy assessment (patterns of posterior glottal gaps are normal and expected)
• •Show no evidence of additional neurological voice disorders such as spasmodic dysphonia or vocal fold paralysis
• •Show elevated hyolaryngeal position that exceeds normative expectations as determined through quantitative analysis of ultrasonographic laryngeal images measuring change from rest to phonation
• •Demonstrate voice problems that have persisted for ≥2 months
• •Demonstrate self-reported increase in speaking effort
• •Show evidence of speech breathing abnormalities relative to accepted normative values