Objective Laryngoscopic Measures From Older Patients With Voice Complaints and Signs of Aging

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use objective measures of glottal gap, bowing, and supraglottic compression from selected images of laryngoscopic examinations from adults over 60 years of age with voice complaints and signs of aging to test current hypotheses on whether degree of severity impacts treatment recommendations and potential follow-through with treatment. Method: Records from 108 individuals 60 years or older with voice complaints and signs of aging were reviewed. Three objective measures (normalized glottal gap area [NGGA], total bowing index, and normalized true vocal fold width) were derived. Each measure was subsequently divided into three categories by severity: absence, small degree, or large degree. Nonparametric statistics tested associations between severity and treatment recommendations as well as potential follow-through. Results: Noninvasive treatments (observation/voice therapy) were marginally associated with no glottal gap ( p = .09). More invasive treatments (injection/bilateral thyroplasty) were associated with glottal gaps being present ( p = .026), but bilateral thyroplasty recommendations were not significantly associated with the largest gaps. Treatment modalities were not characterized by specific severity categories for any of the objective measures. No significant differences were found for any of the three objective measures between those who followed through with recommended treatment and those who did not. Discussion: Results demonstrated some support for current hypotheses on how degrees of severity of objective measures relate to treatment recommendations. Of the three measures, NGGA appears to be more informative regarding treatment recommendations and follow-through, but due to low power, larger sample sizes are needed to confirm clinical relevance.