Auditory-Motor Function Pre- and Post-Therapy in Hyperfunctional Voice Disorders: A Case Series.

The study included only eleven speakers with hyperfunctional voice disorders. There was no control group, so changes over time cannot be separated from therapy. Therapy was individualized, and participants had between 4 and 16 weekly sessions across 1 to 5 months, so a specific therapy ingredient cannot be identified. Two participants with phonotraumatic lesions also had surgery before therapy. The group had mild voice severity on average, with CAPE-V overall severity of 17.1 mm before therapy, so patients with more severe voice disorders were not represented. The authors state that the eleven speakers may not be generalizable to the larger population of people with hyperfunctional voice disorders. Reflexive task data were incomplete for some participants because of time constraints. A single blinded voice-specializing speech-language pathologist rated the voice samples, and the stimuli did not include CAPE-V sentences. The study did not measure laryngeal movement, sensation, or breathing, so it cannot show whether changes were sensory or motor. The study did not follow participants after therapy, so the duration of any improvement is unknown.

One author has financial interests in InnoVoyce LLC, a company developing and commercializing technologies for voice disorders. The paper does not state who funded the study.

Do not conclude that voice therapy improves auditory-motor control in hyperfunctional voice disorders. Five speakers had atypical adaptive responses before therapy, and all five improved, but there was no control group, therapy was individualized, and two participants also had surgery.