Evaluation of the effect of CPAP treatment on voice in obstructive sleep apnea with objective and subjective voice analyzes

A. Altıntop Geçkil, S. Yaslıkaya, Z. Birişik Aycan

Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Malatya, Turkey. aysegul.altintop@gmail.com

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• Internal Medicine
• Otorhinolaryngology

OBJECTIVE: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a multifactorial disease that is the most common among sleep-related respiratory disorders. In our study, we aimed to compare the objective and subjective voice analysis results of the patients with CPAP treatment indication after polysomnography performed in the sleep disorders center before the start of CPAP treatment, the 1st month, and the 3rd month after the treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were asked to say the vowels /ɑ:/ for 5 seconds, respectively for voice recording. MPT and S/Z ratios were also recorded. Using the Praat voice analysis program Jitter%, Shimmer%, HNR, f0 values were obtained. VHI-10 questionnaire was applied. The voice analysis results of the patients before and after the treatment were compared.

RESULTS: 26 patients were included in the study. Since 8 of these patients did not come to the 3rd month evaluation, the study was completed with the data of 18 patients. In our study, at the end of the 3rd month, no difference was found in terms of the fundamental frequency, Shimmer%, HNR, and S/Z values. There was a statistically significant decrease in Jitter% at the 1st month after treatment and 3rd month after treatment compared to pre-treatment (p=0.05, p=0.018). There was a statistically significant decrease in MPT at the 1st month after treatment and 3rd month after treatment compared to pre-treatment (p<0.001, p<0.001). There was a statistically significant decrease in VHI-10 at the 1st month and 3rd month after treatment compared to pre-treatment. Furthermore, there was statistically significant difference between 3rd month after treatment compared to 1st month after treatment. (p=0.043, p=0.030, p=0.029).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that CPAP treatment had both objective and subjective positive effects on voice recovery in the OSA patient group.

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