Researchers conducted this study to investigate a potential correlation between changes in voice and alterations in nasal volume.
The EETSA was performed on 120 patients between February 2009 and August 2016 using the bilateral modified nasoseptal rescue flaps method. All the patients were subjected to pre-and postoperative paranasal CT and voice evaluations using acoustic analyses, a nasometer to measure the nasalance and determination of the VHI. Paranasal CT and the medical image processing software were used to calculate changes in nasal cavity volume in three nasal sections.
Enlargement of the nasal cavity after surgery was evident in all three areas. Besides, EETSA resulted in significantly higher mean nasalance scores for the oronasal passage and nasal passage; more frequency perturbation and amplitude perturbation; and higher grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain scores, and VHI. However, only changes in the nasal volume after EETSA correlated with postnasal hypernasality.
The study concluded that changes in nasal volume, voice, and speech might develop after EETSA. We found that changes in nasal volume were not correlated with changes in any voice-quality measure. However, the postnasal cavity was most dramatically affected by EETSA, and postnasal volume changes after surgery may be associated with hypernasal speech.
Reference: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.2500/ajra.2017.31.4432
