Background: Voice is the unique means of human’s verbal expression, which is produced in the larynx. Laryngeal pathologies can coexist with vocal fatigue and a feeling of voice handicap. The aim of this study was to determine descriptive statistics of males and females and compare the related means. Meanwhile, it was attempted to determine the correlation between Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) and Voice Handicap Index (VHI).
Methods: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytic study conducted on 110 patients with laryngeal pathologies. Fifty four participants were males with mean age of 43.7 years (SD=15.6), and 56 were females with mean age of 40.1 years (SD=11.1). Data was analyzed using SPSS 21 at a significance level of P<0.05. Descriptive statistics, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Spearman and Pearson’s co-efficient of correlation, paired t-test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used.
Results: There was significant correlation between the tiredness and physical discomfort factors of VFI and VHI in patients with laryngeal pathologies (P<0.05). In these patients only the correlation of third factor of VFI with factors of VHI was not significant.
Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the feeling of vocal fatigue, and especially tiredness, may lead to the feeling of vocal handicap in patients with laryngeal pathologies. According to the findings, females may have significantly more physical discomfort than males, which needs more attention in future studies.
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