Immediate effects of the incentive spirometer in women with healthy voice.
Bárbara Pereira Lopes, Gustavo Polacow Korn, Flávio Barbosa Nunes and 1 others
PMID 37970892WHAT IT FOUND
Using an incentive spirometer in 22 vocally healthy women immediately improved some voice stability measures and maximum expiratory volume.
Listeners judged half the voices unchanged. The study did not test people with voice disorders.
Key findings
01Some voice stability measures improved immediately after using the incentive spirometer.
02Maximum expiratory volume was higher immediately after using the incentive spirometer.
03Blind listeners judged half of the voices unchanged after using the incentive spirometer.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 22 vocally healthy women were studied, so it does not show effects in people with voice disorders or in men. The study had no control group and measured only the moment after the device session, so it cannot show lasting benefit or separate natural variation from the device. Device resistance was set by each participant's comfort, and most participants used the lowest setting, so the dose was not standardized. Blind listeners judged half the voices unchanged and 3 voices worse, so acoustic changes did not consistently translate to perceived voice improvement. Some aerodynamic measures were analyzed for 21 or 20 participants, not all 22, and the text does not explain the missing data.
Declared interests
The funding section lists a CAPES doctoral scholarship. No other conflicts of interest are mentioned.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the incentive spirometer treats voice disorders. The study tested vocally healthy women, not patients with dysphonia, and measured only immediate effects.