Effects of Sustained Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Exercises in Non-Disordered Populations.
Jakob R Holm, Owen P Wischhoff, Tomas K Gilvydis and 4 others
PMID 40287308WHAT IT FOUND
In healthy adults, straw phonation lowered the pressure needed to start voicing, regardless of straw length.
The benefit did not last one week after stopping, and other airflow measures did not change.
Key findings
01PTP showed a significant main effect of time, with significant differences between week zero and week two, week zero and week four, week two and week four, and week four and week five.
02The PTP difference between week four and week five was significant, and the paper states all other time differences were not significant.
03Straw length did not significantly affect PTP, and no significant main effects of time or straw length were found for MFR, P S, R L, or PW.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The participants were healthy adults with no reported voice disorders, so the results may not apply to patients with dysphonia. The sample was small and uneven after exclusions: seven, six, and nine participants were analysed in the short, medium, and long straw groups. The paper gives inconsistent completion counts: it says twenty-two participants completed in compliance, then says twenty-three participants completed for age data. There was no untreated control group, and the paper does not describe how randomisation was done, whether participants were blinded, or whether assessors were blinded. The paper did not measure P S immediately after the straw task, so short-term effects on that outcome cannot be judged. The effects on PTP were not sustained one week after stopping, and MFR, P S, R L, and PW showed no significant change.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest and no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work. The paper does not report external funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that straw phonation is an established treatment for voice disorders or that a 30.00 cm straw is better than shorter straws. This was a small study in healthy adults, only PTP changed significantly over time, and the paper reports the change did not last one week after stopping.