title: Correlation of VHI-30 to Acoustic Measurements Across Three Common Voice Disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Voice disorders that affect the quality of voice also result in varying degrees of psychological and social problems. The research question here is whether the correlations between Voice Handicap Index (VHI)-30 scores and objective acoustic measures differ in patients with different types of voice disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects were divided into three groups: muscle tension dysphonia (MTD), benign mid-membranous vocal fold lesions, and unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP). All participants were male. The mean age for the groups were 32.85 ± 8.6 years in the MTD group, 33.24 ± 7.32 years in the benign lesions group, and 34.24 ± 7.51 years in the UVFP group. The participants completed the Persian VHI-30 questionnaire. PRAAT software was used to obtain acoustic analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant correlation between the physical subscale of the VHI-30 and the total score of the VHI-30 and maximum phonation time (MPT) in the MTD group. Also, there was a significant correlation between the total VHI-30 score and the MPT value. There were relatively strong and significant correlations between the physical subscale of the VHI-30 with jitter and shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) for the group with benign lesions such as nodules and polyps. Also, in this group, there was a significant correlation between the total VHI-30 score and the jitter value. The physical scale had strong and significant correlations between jitter, shimmer, and HNR in the unilateral paralysis group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that although the VHI-30 and the acoustic measurements of voice provide independent information, they are associated to some extent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dehqan
authors.affiliation: University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Faribayadegari@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yadegari
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio.
authors.forename: Ronald C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Scherer
authors.affiliation: Otolaryngology Research Center, Amiralam Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dabirmoghadam
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010699:Phonation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014826:Vocal Cord Paralysis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: VHI-30; acoustic measurements; quality of life; subjective measurements; voice disorders