Voice Therapy Outcome in Puberphonia

Abstract

Background: Puberphonia is inappropriate use of high-pitched voice beyond pubertal age in males. It is usually seen in the immediate post-pubescent period when the male vocal mechanism has undergone significant changes in size and function caused by hormonal changes. Voice therapy is one of the modality of management for puberphonia. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of voice therapy provided to a group of 30 Puberphonia cases as the sole treatment approach to lower the pitch range. Setting: The study was carried out in a tertiary voice care and laryngology center. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study of 30 cases diagnosed with Puberphonia managed with various techniques of voice therapy. The subjective assessment was done with GRBAS scale and objective assessment was done by acoustic analysis using Multi Dimensional Voice Profile. Results: All 30 patients achieved appropriate pitch range following Voice Therapy. Conclusion: This study encourages speech and language professionals to advice and use voice therapy as the foremost treatment modality for Puberphonia.