title: The impact of hormone therapy on vocal quality in postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The main purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of hormone therapy (HT) on vocal characteristics in postmenopausal women by comparing postmenopausal women with HT (n=59) and postmenopausal women without HT (n=46). The second purpose was to investigate the differences in vocal characteristics between two types of HT: estrogen therapy (ET) and estrogen-progestogen therapy (E-PT).
  
  
  METHODS
  To determine the vocal characteristics in both groups, objective (aerodynamic measurements, vocal range measurements, acoustic analysis, and a determination of the dysphonia severity index) and subjective assessment techniques (perceptual evaluation, videostroboscopic evaluation, and voice handicap index) were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The postmenopausal women without HT showed a significantly lower speaking fundamental frequency and were able to phonate lower compared with postmenopausal women with HT. No differences in vocal characteristics were found between postmenopausal women with ET and postmenopausal women with E-PT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HT seems to counteract the vocal changes caused by menopause. The type of HT did not affect the outcome in this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Logopaedic and Audiologic Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Evelien.Dhaeseleer@Ugent.be
authors.forename: Evelien
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'haeseleer
authors.forename: Herman
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Depypere
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Claeys
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Baudonck
authors.forename: Kristiane
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Van Lierde
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004958:Estradiol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010699:Phonation / Q000187:drug effects; D017698:Postmenopause; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011374:Progesterone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D045167:Progesterone Congeners / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D049489:Stroboscopy; D014741:Video Recording; D014832:Voice Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D045167:Progesterone Congeners; D011374:Progesterone; D004958:Estradiol