title: Different oral contraceptives and voice quality--an observational study.
abstract: The classical literature on endocrine effect on voice considers oral contraceptives (OCs) as a risk factor for voice. However, recent studies revealed no adverse effect of new-generation OCs on voice. It was also suggested that OCs could improve specific voice characteristics via different mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of OCs on voices of women who use different formulations containing drospirenone (n=10), desogestrel (n=9) and gestodene (n=10). Acoustic voice measures of the 29 women were evaluated twice during the menstrual cycle. Fundamental frequency, frequency as well as amplitude stability and noise characteristics were measured using a computerized voice analysis program. Results indicated that vocal stability and quality were similar in the three groups tested. Marginal differences were observed between the drospirenone group and the other two groups. This preliminary observational study indicates that although drospirenone was previously shown to reduce water retention, this effect was not found to directly influence voice characteristics of women who use OCs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, 52621 Israel. oferamir@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: Ofer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Amir
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biron-Shental
authors.forename: Osnat
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tzenker
authors.forename: Tal
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Barer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014833:Voice Quality
chemical_list: D003276:Contraceptives, Oral