Akhtar S, Wood G, Rubin J S, O'Flynn P E, Ratcliffe P
Department of Speech and Language Therapy, Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, London, UK.
J Laryngol Otol. 1999 Apr;113(4):341-5. doi: 10.1017/s0022215100143920.
Caffeine is considered to be a dehydrating agent with detrimental effects on the quality of voice of persons ingesting it. This has led medical personnel dealing with voice disorders, especially in the case of professional voice users, to give advice against the use of caffeine. Yet this is an anecdotal truth as an extensive Medline literature search did not reveal any scientific evidence of caffeine being proven to have adverse effects on the vocal folds. We, therefore, initiated this pilot study to ascertain the connection between caffeine and voice quality on a laboratory basis. Two hundred and fifty mg of caffeine were provided to eight volunteers in tablet form, and blood levels along with laryngograph readings were recorded to document the changes produced. Analysing the irregularities of frequencies in a) free speech b) a reading passage and c) singing 'Happy Birthday', substantial changes were seen to authenticate the fact that caffeine does produce alterations in voice quality but these alterations have considerable intra-subject variability. A full study with wider parameters is to be performed on this subject as we consider it to be of importance in the management of voice disorders.
咖啡因被认为是一种脱水剂，会对摄入它的人的嗓音质量产生不利影响。这使得处理嗓音障碍的医务人员，尤其是在专业嗓音使用者的情况下，建议不要使用咖啡因。然而，这只是一个传闻，因为广泛的医学文献检索并未发现任何科学证据证明咖啡因对声带具有不良影响。因此，我们开展了这项初步研究，以在实验室基础上确定咖啡因与嗓音质量之间的联系。以片剂形式向八名志愿者提供了250毫克咖啡因，并记录了血液水平以及喉图读数，以记录所产生的变化。分析a）自由讲话、b）阅读段落和c）演唱《生日快乐》时频率的不规则性，可以看到有显著变化，证实了咖啡因确实会导致嗓音质量改变这一事实，但这些改变在个体内部具有相当大的变异性。鉴于我们认为这在嗓音障碍的管理中具有重要意义，因此将针对该主题进行一项参数范围更广的全面研究。
