Vocal symptomatology of postoperative dysphonia.

Vocal symptomatology of 24 patients was assessed following the removal of polyps (12 cases) and polypoid degeneration (12 cases). In addition to fundamental frequency, hoarseness type was measured using the spectrographic system developed by Yanagihara which assesses harmonic structure of phonemes relative to noise components. Mean vocal frequency (155Hz) for the polypoid degeneration group was significantly lower than mean vocal frequency for the polyp group (186Hz). There was no difference between the two groups in mean spectrographic hoarseness type. Analysis of data suggested two subgroups of postoperative dysphonia based upon vocal symptomatology: Type A--little or no hoarseness and Type B--severe hoarseness. Neither preoperative nor postoperative conditions of the vocal cords were related to the severity of hoarseness demonstrated by Type B dysphonics. Illustrative cases are presented. One possible explanation for severe postoperative dysphonia is developed.