Comparing Telepractice and Conventional Face-to-face Voice Therapy

Voice Therapy for Benign Voice Disorders in the Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Telepractice and Conventional Face-to-face Therapy

People over 55 years are high-risk with voice disorders. Voice disordered elderly need vocal training in order to improve communication efficiency and quality of life. However, participation in vocal training of elderly is often restricted by motivation, time of practice, and availability to hospital, which thus reduces treatment effects. The purpose of the study is to design a telecommunication vocal training system and a vocal training program for voice disordered elderly in Taiwan. The investigator proposed a 3-year consecutive study, including a single-blind, randomized controlled trial, to test the hypothesis that vocal training via telepractice for voice disordered elderly are not inferior to the standard face to face training.

Randomization: per mutated block, 40 patients on each arms (experimental and control)

Allocation: sealed envelope indicating either of the 2 groups

Intervention: weekly vocal training, each course last for 30-40 minutes,lasting for 2 months

Outcome measurement: before treatment, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment

Primary outcome: 10-item voice handicap index

Secondary outcome: acoustics and aerodynamic parameter

Inclusion criteria:

• patient equal or older than 55 years old
• Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) score >10 point
• accessibility to a network connection

Exclusion criteria

• neurologic disorders
• active pulomanory disease
• mental disorder