[Voice diagnostics in professional sopranos: application of the protocol of the European Laryngological Society (ELS)].

The European Laryngological Society (ELS) has published a protocol for the evaluation of vocal function. Using this protocol, we evaluated 17 female sopranos, of whom 11 had laryngostroboscopic findings of organic alterations and six did not. Singers with increased subjective impressions of hoarseness, or of whom the examiner had increased perceptions of hoarseness, showed significant differences regarding impairment of the maximum phonation time, the frequency range, and the dysphonia severity index. No such differences were found regarding the presence of alterations of the vocal folds. These data suggest that organic alterations in professional singers are not necessarily associated with impaired vocal performance or vocal function or with measured values of the ELS protocol. For professional singers, therapy should be indicated not just on the basis of stroboscopy but on a broader basis using multifactorial voice analysis such as the ELS protocol.