Voice Analysis as a Predictor for Difficult Intubations

J. Matthias Walz

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Difficult Intubation

Difficult Airway Intubation

Speech Dysfunction

Surgery

Anesthesia

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04105738

H00012814

Details and patient eligibility

About

To investigate if signal processing can detect subtle changes in speech production clinically relevant to oropharynx anatomy that may provide an objective measure in the assessment of the presumed difficulty of intubation.

Full description

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether changes in phonation (sounds coming from vocal cords that occur when a person speaks) can be used as a reliable measure to predict airways that may be difficult to manage in the operating room.

One of the reasons the Preoperative Surgical Assessment (PSE) is performed is to assess subjects for signs of a difficult airway. At this time, none of the assessments have proven to be both highly sensitive and specific. Multiple studies have shown that specific characteristics of a subject's speech can suggest that they may have an issue with the anatomy of the oropharynx (the area consisting of the back of the throat to the vocal cords). Prior research has shown that studying velar vowel sounds, those vowels that require the use of the back of the tongue to pronounce, can be used to predict a disorder called obstructive sleep apnea (a disease associated with difficulty breathing).

The Investigators are trying to determine whether the development of a simple voice study conducted during the PSE visit could alert the Anesthesiologist caring for the subject in the operating room to use the extra precautions provided for people who have a documented history of a difficult airway. It is hoped that the voice analysis test being developed in this study will have the ability to objectively predict a difficult airway for future patients.

Enrollment

13 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

18 years of age or older
Able to provide informed consent
A known documented history of having a difficult airway
An age-matched control subject with normal airways.

Exclusion criteria

Unable to consent for themselves
Non-English speaking subjects
Pregnant Subjects
Previous Vocal Cord Surgery
Previous Head and neck surgery that would alter anatomy of hypopharynx

We will not include:

Prisoners
Pregnant women
Individuals who are not yet adults (infants, children, teenagers)
Adults unable to consent
Adults who cannot speak English We will not be enrolling subjects who cannot speak English. The subjects must be able to understand the research team member who is testing them as well as the research paradigm.