Voice symptoms and handicap in adults with cochlear implants

ABSTRACT Purpose: to investigate the presence of vocal symptoms and handicap in adults with cochlear implants, and verify the correlation with their self-perception of the voice quality. Methods: twenty-seven adults of both genders, with cochlear implants, in the age range of 19 to 57 years participated. The participants answered the self-assessment protocols Voice Handicap Index and Voice Symptom Scale. Furthermore, the participants answered an additional question about how they rated their voices. Results: for the Voice Handicap Index, the average score was 28.74, in total, and the average score for the Voice Symptom Scale was 29.22, in total. The correlation between the scores of the Voice Handicap Index and the self-perception of the voice showed that the worse the perception, the more handicap in every domain of the protocol. For the Voice Symptoms Scale, the results showed that there is a positive and moderate correlation between the self-perception of the voice and the total scores as well as for the impairment and emotional subscales. Conclusion: this study verified the presence of handicap and symptoms related to voice, mainly, regarding physical, functional and limitation aspects for the adults with cochlear implants. There is a positive and moderate correlation between the score of the protocols applied and self-evaluation of the vocal quality of the participants.