The impact of tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy on speech and voice

SummaryObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate changes in acoustic features of speech and voice after tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy.MethodsBefore and 1 month after surgery the following parameters were estimated: average of fundamental frequency (Fo), Jitter percent (Jitt), Shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR), voice turbulence index (VTI), soft phonation index (SPI), degree of voiceless (DUV), degree of voice breaks (DVB) and peak amplitude variation (vAm); as an evaluation of nasal resonance, speech articulation and voice handicap index (VHI).ResultsThe results were statistically evaluated using the unpaired t-test. Probability values below 0.05 were regarded as significant. One month after surgery, our data showed significant (P < 0.05) improvements of the acoustic and other parameters in the children submitted to adenotonsillectomy: Fo (176 Hz vs. 206 Hz, after sustained vowels: 206 Hz vs. 192 Hz; 148 Hz vs. 168 Hz; 171 Hz vs. 161 Hz after balanced sentences), Jitt (0.85% vs. 1.81% to 0.82% vs. 1.81%), Shimmer (3.41% vs. 5.81% to 4.89% vs. 5.73%), NHR (0.16 vs. 0.42 to 0.29 vs. 0.39), VTI (0.05 vs. 0.38 to 0.28 vs. 0.37), SPI (14.78 vs. 21.14–19.89 vs. 21.89), DUV (0% vs. 0.44% to 0% vs. 0.48%), DVB (0% vs. 0.42% to 0% vs. 0.42%) and vAm (8.93% vs. 23.89% to 8.89% vs. 24.25%).ConclusionsThe results suggest the role of adenotonsillectomy in the improvement of voice and speech quality and of objective evaluation of speech and voice in the correct management of these children.