Management of Non-Organic Dysphonia in Adults.

Resonance Tube Voice Therapy Versus Smith Accent Therapy in The Management of Non-Organic Dysphonia in Adults

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of a semi-occluded vocal tract training program, "Resonant Tube Therapy," versus the "Traditional Smith-accent Method" on the quality of voice in patients with Non-Organic "Functional" dysphonia.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients diagnosed with non-organic functional dysphonia with or without Minimally Associated Pathological lesions and referred for voice therapy. The diagnosis was based on the results of the routine clinical assessment of cases of voice disorders by a phoniatrician in the voice clinic.
• Patients 'ages between 15 - 60 years old.
• Native speakers of Arabic.
• Language comprehension adequate for the task.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with organic voice disorders.
• Patients with aphonia or Phon asthenia.
• Females within the week of their menstrual cycle or menstruating at the time of data collection to control for the possible hormonal effects or premenstrual water retention on voice quality.
• History of severe respiratory allergies, thyroid pathologies, neuro-motor impairment, hearing impairment, psychiatric problems and physically limiting diseases that might interfere with study completion.
• Those on any regular medication that might affect voice quality.
• Speech disorders.
• Cigarette smoking, alcohol, or drug abuse for the past 5 years.
• Patients with previous micro laryngeal surgery.
• Patients with gastrointestinal reflux disease.