[Study of voice changes pre- and post-tonsillectomy].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate changes in acoustic features of voice after tonsillectomy.


METHODS
Thirty-three patients presenting for tonsillectomy were recruited. Voice recordings obtained from patients before and 1 month after surgery, were analyzed using the Kay Elemetrics, multi-dimensional voice processing software. The following parameters were estimated: the first formant (F1, B1), average of fundamental frequency (F0), Jitter percent (Jitter), Shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio (NHR).


RESULTS
There were significant difference in the first formant frequency and bandwidth before and 1 month after surgery. The larger the tonsil was, the more changes were seen in the formant frequency. No significant differences were found for F0, Jitter, Shimmer, NHR decreased after the surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The modifications in the anatomical structure and volume of the vocal tract, induced by the tonsillectomy can change the formant frequency and bandwidth. The larger the tonsil was, the more changes were detected in the formant frequency.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Third Hospital of Peking University, Beijing 100191, China.
Juan
J
Li
Yan
Y
Yan
Li
L
Wang
Jingming
J
Duan
Ke
K
Zhang
D006801:Humans; D009929:Organ Size; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000473:pathology*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D057234:Preoperative Period; D012984:Software; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014068:Tonsillectomy; D014833:Voice Quality