Correlation between acoustic-perceptual data and voice-related quality of life in elderly women.
BACKGROUND
vocal quality and voice-related quality of life in elderly women


OBJECTIVE
to assess the vocal quality and voice-related quality of life in elderly women, as well as verify if the presence of dysphonia has an influence on the life quality of these women.


METHODS
one hundred and three elderly women, with ages ranging from 60 to 103 years, were recruited. The V-RQOL was answered by the participants and their voices were registered and analyzed perceptually by five experienced speech pathologists, using the GRBASI scale. After the intra-rater reliability analysis, three speech pathologists were selected with whom a single GRBASI scale was built for each of the participant's voice. Later, this single assessment was compared to the physical, socio-emotional and total V-RQOL scores.


RESULTS
most of the elderly women presented V-RQOL total scores between 70 and 100. They also presented a mild to moderate vocal disorder in the overall scores related to dysphonia, roughness, breathiness and instability in the GRBASI scale and did not present scores related to asthenia or strain. The G, R, B and I parameters of the GRBASI scale were statistically correlated to the physical and total V-RQOL scores.


CONCLUSIONS
although most of the elderly women presented some level of dysphonia, the vocal disorders did not have an influence on their life quality. However, the physical and total V-RQOL scores were correlated to dysphonia severity, indicating that the more sever the dysphonia, the lower the voice-related quality of life.
Gama
Ana Cristina Côrtes
AC
Departamento de Fonoaudiologia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. anacgama@medicina.ufmg.br
Alves
Cláudia Fernanda Tolentino
CF
Cerceau
Janaína da Silva Berto
Jda S
Teixeira
Letícia Caldas
LC
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000502:physiology*