title: The effect of head and neck radiation therapy on voice quality.
abstract: Twenty-five patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who received radiation therapy as their only form of treatment underwent a computer-assisted voice analysis before, and 6 months following treatment. Those with early laryngeal tumors had a significant improvement in intelligibility (P = .07), percent of sound voiced (P = .04), and sound perturbation. Those with nonlaryngeal tumors had no change in any measured parameters. Head and neck radiation therapy can significantly improve the voice quality of patients with laryngeal tumors, while having a minimal effect on the voice quality of those with nonlaryngeal tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hoyt
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lettinga
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Leopold
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010610:Pharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D010699:Phonation / Q000528:radiation effects; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014831:Voice / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000528:radiation effects*