Assessing the Effects of Patient Self-Rating of Voice Quality on Voice Therapy Attendance and Outcomes

NYU Langone Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Dysphonia

Treatments: Other: Vocal hygiene module; Other: Online Voice quality education module

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05237648

21-01409

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of incorporating educational online modules into voice therapy. One of the main reasons that voice therapy fails is lack of participation and engagement from the patient's side. The researchers hope to learn if increasing patient engagement via educational online modules during this waiting period between evaluation and first therapy session is useful in increasing understanding of the therapeutic framework of voice therapy.

Full description

Attendance and adherence are established as consistent challenges in voice therapy. Specific logistical and psychological factors linked to these challenges include the interval between evaluation and initiation of treatment and components of patient motivation. The authors propose a novel online education module involving patient self-ratings of voice quality to be completed at various time points throughout the therapeutic process, including during the waiting period between initial evaluation and first treatment session. The authors hypothesize that completion of this module will increase patient understanding of the conceptual framework of therapy, provide opportunities for inclusion of patient-driven acoustic goals and establish skills in auditory and kinesthetic awareness, which are foundational to behavioral voice therapy.

Enrollment: 42 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 100 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age >18 years
• English-speaking
• Have access to technology, including Internet
• Diagnosed with dysphonia with a recommended treatment of voice therapy.
• Willingness to complete all clinical/research assessments
• Ability to give informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who undergo surgical intervention during the course of therapy Contraindications for participation in voice therapy
• Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease or other neurodegenerative, progressive disorder (e.g., ALS)
• Previous training in acoustic-perceptual voice quality rating, for example a speech language pathology student
• Visual impairments that would prevent the completion of an online module.
• Those with self-reported moderate-profound hearing loss or deafness that would preclude them from participating in the study
• Inability to give informed consent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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42 participants in 3 patient groups

Experimental Group

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will complete an online module with content focusing on patient self-rating of vocal quality within 24 hours of evaluation, approximately 1-2 weeks prior to their first therapy session, and within 24 hours after each therapy session;

Treatment:

Other: Online Voice quality education module

Sham Control Group

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Participants will complete an online module within 24 hours of evaluation, approximately 1-2 weeks prior to their first therapy session, and within 24 hours after each therapy session with content focusing on vocal hygiene.

Treatment:

Other: Vocal hygiene module

Control group

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants will not complete an online module. The groups will be compared in terms of attendance, self-efficacy, and treatment outcome measures based on the data collected within the NYU Voice Center standard of care