The use of electrical stimulation in speech therapy clinical: an integrative literature review

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to present the integrative literature review: about the applying result of the electrical stimulation use in the speech therapy clinic. The methodology used followed the concepts of the Cochrane Handbook involved question formulation related to the topic of investigation, identification and selection of the studies, and a critical evaluation of the selected articles. Selection of articles data bases of Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System on-line(Medline), Latin American Literature and the Caribe in Health Science, PubMed and Web of Science/ISI were used. The descriptors used were "transcutaneous nervous electrical stimulation", "dysphagia", "swallowing disorder", "dysphonia", "voice disorder" AND "speech language" in English, Portuguese and Spanish and its combinations, from 2003 to 2013. The electrical stimulation brings benefits the rehabilitation in speech therapy, but the methodology used in the studies was divergent and the studied population was very heterogeneous and it makes difficult its clinical use by the professionals of the area. The electrical stimulation brings benefits the rehabilitation in speech therapy clinic. But the new studies should be carried out using a more homogeneous sample and describing the methodology and the speech therapy techniques used into procedures, in order to prove its results and make its use feasible to the professionals of the area.