Assessing self-reported measures of voice disability in tracheoesophageal speakers.

OBJECTIVE

current instruments for evaluating quality of life in individuals treated for head and neck cancer often contain a speech-related item; however, none provide a dedicated measure of self-perceived voice-related quality of life. Therefore, this study sought to assess the utility of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) instrument in a group of individuals who use tracheoesophageal (TE) speech following total laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer.

DESIGN

this exploratory, retrospective study accessed individuals who used TE speech as their primary mode of communication.

SETTING

Data were collected at a university centre.

METHODS

fifteen male and 15 female TE speakers were age matched (± 3 years) and their V-RQOL scores were evaluated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

the self-report V-RQOL was employed to evaluate participants' perceptions of their voice-related quality of life. The V-RQOL yields two subscales, social-emotional functioning and physical functioning, as well as a total score.

RESULTS

analyses revealed no statistically significant differences across gender, thus permitting descriptive evaluation of group data. Data suggest that varied degrees of voice-related disability exist for both physical and social-emotional functioning, with participants generally reporting better social-emotional scores.

CONCLUSIONS

based on these preliminary data, the V-RQOL may offer an easy and time-efficient clinical measure of postlaryngectomy voice disability for alaryngeal speakers. These findings suggest that the V-RQOL may be used with this clinical population and may serve to identify voice-related deficits that can be targeted for intervention as part of a patient's postlaryngectomy rehabilitation.