A review of outcome measurements for voice disorders.

There has been great interest in the medical and associated communities in the development and use of patient-based outcome measures such as quality-of-life and handicap indexes. This area of assessment of initial disability and response to subsequent treatment is especially applicable to the field of laryngology and voice disorders given the limitations of perceptual analysis and objective vocal function studies. In this review, we outline the development and importance of patient-based outcome measures in general, and their application for voice disorders specifically. In addition, several voice-specific instruments are discussed in detail and provided. One of the primary goals of this review is to educate and facilitate the future use of these simple but important patient-based outcome instruments for otolaryngologists who care for patients with voice disorders.