BACKGROUND Adenotonsillectomy is one of the most common pediatric surgical procedures. Postoperative voice changes are a very common concern among patient's parents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze acoustic voice parameters after adenotonsillectomy, tonsillectomy, and adenoidectomy in pediatric patients in a tertiary referral academic center. PATIENTS AND METHODS All pediatric patients undergoing an adenotonsillectomy, tonsillectomy or adenoidectomy in a single center from 2002 to 2018 were included in the study. Change of fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic-noise ratio at first, seventh and 30th postoperative day compared to preoperative values were the primary outcome parameters. Statistical analysis was performed using repeated measures analysis of variance model. RESULTS A total of 1258 patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients at the time of surgery was 8.3 years (range 3.0-18.0 years). Around 698 were male (55.5%) and 560 female (44.5%). The values of fundamental frequency increased significantly after the first and seventh postoperative day (P = 0.001 both) but normalized 1 month after surgery (P = 0.962). At the first postoperative month, values of jitter and shimmer decreased significantly (P = 0.005 and P = 0.002, respectively). Measurements of harmonic-noise ratio revealed a significant increase 30 days after surgery (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION Statistically significant differences in objective voice parameters within the first postoperative month after tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and adenotonsillectomy were observed. The fundamental frequency returned to normal 1 month after surgery. These findings can contribute in soothing the concerns of parents regarding postoperative voice changes.

Introduction: Among the various symptomatic manifestations of mental insufficiency, besides the obvious speech disorders, there is the presence of functional and/or organs vocal pathologies. The aim of the research was to determine the acoustic and aerodynamic characteristics of the voice of children with mild and moderate intellectual difficulties and to examine the existence of differences in the mentioned parameters between these two groups of respondents.Methods: The study was conducted on a sample of 38 children with a diagnosis of mild and moderate intellectual difficulties, chronological ages of seven to 12 years old, attending special classes at regular schools. Results: The results showed that children with mild and moderate levels of intellectual difficulties have normal values of the laryngeal tone. However, the value of the frequency perturbation was increased in children with moderate intellectual difficulties, while the value of amplitude perturbation was increased in both groups of respondents. The measured aerodynamic parameter was at the line of pathological value in subjects with mild intellectual difficulties, and in subjects with moderate intellectual difficulties measured aerodynamic parameter was pathological. The results also show that both groups of participants differ significantly in the acoustic parameter describing the frequency perturbation and in the aerodynamic parameter of the maximum phonation time.Conclusion: Discrepancies in the mentioned voice evaluation parameters point to the need for timely diagnosis and treatment of not only speech and language but also the voice of the population of children with mild and moderate intellectual difficulties.

Objective This study investigated acoustic and perceptual characteristics of the voice of patients with thyroid gland disorders such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism immediately after the diagnosis was made and six months later, after using drug therapy. Materials and Methods The study includes 20 female outpatients with hypothyroidism and 27 female outpatients with hyperthyroidism. The criterion for the selection of the patients was a thyroid gland disorder medical diagnosis, no history of voice disorders and absence of other possible causes of voice changes. Acoustic, perceptual and aerodynamic parameters were assessed. Acoustic analysis was performed by specific software. Experienced speech and language pathologists made perceptual voice assessment by using grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale. Results Significant differences in patients with hypothyroidism were established on parameter amplitude perturbation, jitter and noise-to-harmonics ratio between pretreatment and posttreatment period, in which patients took drug therapy. In group of patients with hyperthyroidism significant difference was noted only on aerodynamic parameter maximum phonation time. There were a significant differences in all perceptual parameters in both groups of patients (p<0.05) in pre and posttreatment, except on grade and asthenia parameter in the group of patients with hypothyroidism and parameter grade was borderline insignificant in the group of patients with hyperthyroidism. Conclusion Voice quality is affected by thyroid disease. Thyroid gland disorders cause minor changes in acoustic voice parameters of patients with hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, but perceptual deviations in these patients are especially noticeable.