Responsiveness of the Korean Version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (K-VAPP) after Surgical Intervention

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to confirm the responsiveness of the Korean version of the Voice Activity and Participation Profile (K-VAPP) after surgical intervention for various voice disorders and to explore the correlation between changes in the K-VAPP subscale scores and other measures, focusing on auditory-perceptual estimations. Methods: The K-VAPP was administered to 90 patients with various voice disorders who underwent surgical treatment. Along with the K-VAPP, pre- and post-operative vocal assessment results after 3 months were compared, including psychometric, acoustic (both spectral and cepstral), electroglottographic, and aerodynamic assessment. In addition, a correlation between the differences in the K-VAPP subscale scores and Grade changes of GRBAS (grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain) scale was explored. Results: After surgery, the total score, activity limitation score, and all the subscale scores except ‘effect on social communication’ decreased significantly. On the other hand, the participation restriction score and ‘social communication’ subscale score did not show significant changes. The responsiveness was supported by improvement in several psychometric, acoustic, and aerodynamic parameters, and correlation between K-VAPP subscale scores and those measures. ‘Self-perceived severity’ and ‘effect on social communication’ subscale scores showed significant correlation with perceived severity by clinician. Conclusion: In sum, the K-VAPP was confirmed to be sufficiently responsive after surgical intervention. It is clinically significant that the participation restriction and effect on social communication did not improve after surgery. Further studies pertaining to each etiological group are needed.