Relationship Between Vocal Fatigue Index and Acoustic Voice Scales in Patients With Coronavirus Infection.
Nader Saki, Reyhane Nasiri, Arash Bayat and 3 others
PMID 37277295WHAT IT FOUND
Patients recovering from COVID-19 reported significantly higher vocal fatigue than healthy controls, with tiredness and physical discomfort correlating with acoustic voice measures like jitter and shimmer.
This suggests voice therapy may be needed for post-COVID dysphonia.
Key findings
01COVID-19 patients had significantly higher scores for tiredness of voice, physical discomfort, and symptom improvement with rest compared to controls.
02Acoustic parameters including Jitter, Shimmer, and Maximum Phonation Time differed significantly between COVID-19 patients and controls.
03Vocal fatigue subscales showed significant correlations with acoustic parameters such as Jitter, Shimmer, and Harmonic-to-Noise Ratio.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study had a small sample size (30 per group). It did not specify the severity of COVID-19 infection or the time since diagnosis for the patient group. The cross-sectional design prevents establishing causality between COVID-19 and vocal fatigue.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that vocal fatigue in these patients is caused solely by laryngeal damage; the study did not control for pulmonary involvement or general post-viral fatigue, which could also impact voice production and self-reported fatigue.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →