A retrospective study concerning the psychosocial impact of voice disorders: Voice Handicap Index change in patients with benign voice disorders after treatment (measured with the Dutch version of the VHI).

The goal of this study was to gain better understanding of psychosocial effects of benign voice problems as measured with the Dutch version of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The effect of voice problems on daily life differs from person to person. Over the last few decades there has been a growing understanding of the fact that the psychosocial effect of this medical problem needs to be acknowledged. The VHI is a known voice specific Quality-of-Life measuring instrument, which is often used for this purpose. In the University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands, patients with voice problems are analyzed at a Voice Clinic by a multidisciplinary team of voice specialists. In this study, we have analyzed patients with benign voice problems before and after treatment in the period of April 2004 to October 2006. The study group consisted of 68 patients (39 female). For comparison reason, we included a control group (n=68), matched for age and gender. The mean VHI score of the patient group before treatment was 48.9 (SD=20.9). After treatment, there was a significant improvement to 28.3 (SD=20.5) (P<0.001). There was no significant difference between the VHI scores of men and women. As could be expected, voice disorders of different etiology showed different VHI scores. Before and after treatment, the patient group showed a statistically significantly higher VHI score (P<0.001) compared with the control group (mean VHI score of 3.62, SD=3.82). Patients with different voice problems seem to have different results with the VHI. Treatment leads to statistically significant improvement in VHI scores. The VHI has proven to be a good instrument to evaluate the psychosocial consequences of voice problems.