Timing of End of Voice Therapy in Our Hospital

Abstract

There are three methods conventionally used for treating vocal disorders: medical therapy, such as drugs and/or inhaler; phonosurgery, such as laryngomicrosurgery; and voice therapy by a speech-language-hearing therapist (ST). We treat vocal disorders by a combination of these three methods. In our hospital, a medical doctor and ST together examine patients with vocal disorders. We perform a medical interview and observation of the vocal cords, then perform the trial voice therapy under endoscopy in these cases. When we believe there is a need for voice therapy, in addition to the vocal examination, we also undertake, for example aerodynamic inspection and recording of the patient's voice, and then start the voice therapy on the same day as the examination. We determine when the voice therapy should end based on the following three improvements: (1) disappearance of the patient's chief complaint, (2) the patient's laryngeal findings, and (3) a functional examination of the voice. In the approximately two years since the voice clinic opened, we have performed voice therapy in 101 cases: 48 cases finished the therapy and 28 cases dropped out.