Pediatric voice-related quality of life and acoustic analysis of voice: a study in schoolchildren

ABSTRACT Purpose: to assess the self-reported voice-related quality of life of schoolchildren without voice complaints and correlate it to acoustic parameters of voice. Methods: the research population comprised 31 children, mean age 6.5 (±0.17) years. The children’s perception of their voice-related quality of life was verified with the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life Survey, which has 10 closed-ended questions and three domains. The acoustic parameters assessed were fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, glottal-to-noise excitation ratio, and noise rate, besides the phonatory deviation diagram, based on the analysis of the emission of the sustained vowel /ɛ/ for 5 seconds. Results: all the children obtained scores close to 100% in the three domains of the Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life Survey. As for the acoustic parameters, most of them presented abnormal values in the phonatory deviation diagram and in shimmer. There was a difference between girls and boys only in fundamental frequency. Conclusion: the pediatric self-reported voice-related quality of life of the children studied had a positive impact, despite the acoustic changes found in the voices. There was no correlation between the pediatric voice-related quality of life and the acoustic parameters in voice in the group studied.

摘要
目的：评估无嗓音主诉学龄儿童的自我报告嗓音相关生活质量，并将其与嗓音声学参数进行关联分析。
方法：本研究纳入31名儿童，平均年龄6.5（±0.17）岁。采用儿科嗓音相关生活质量量表（Pediatric Voice-Related Quality of Life Survey）评估儿童对自身嗓音相关生活质量的感知，该量表包含10道封闭式问题，分为3个维度。本次研究评估的声学参数包括基频、基频微扰（jitter）、振幅微扰（shimmer）、声门-噪声激励比、噪声率，此外还基于持续发5秒元音/ɛ/的语音样本分析，构建了发声偏离图（phonatory deviation diagram）。
结果：所有儿童在儿科嗓音相关生活质量量表的3个维度中得分均接近100%。声学参数方面，多数儿童的发声偏离图及振幅微扰结果存在异常。仅在基频一项指标上，男童与女童存在显著差异。
结论：尽管本研究纳入的儿童嗓音存在声学改变，但他们自我报告的儿科嗓音相关生活质量均处于良好水平。本研究群体中，儿科嗓音相关生活质量与嗓音声学参数之间未发现相关性。