Short-term and Long-term Efficacy of Oropharyngolaryngeal Strengthening Training on Voice Using a Mobile Healthcare Application in Elderly Women

Abstract

Objectives A decline in vocal function due to aging interferes with successful communication in daily life, and negatively affects the quality of life. As part of an appropriate intervention for presbyphonia, adherence to regular voice exercise benefits and improves therapeutic effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of oral and pharyngolaryngeal strength training on voice using a mobile healthcare application in elderly women. Methods Eleven participants performed ‘A Successful Swallowing with Effortful Training (ASSET)’ at home for eight weeks using a mobile health application. A significant training effect was identified in seven participants (7 women, mean age= 74.6± 5.7 years) who performed the protocol appropriately. The effects of the training were measured by voice function evaluation and voice-related questionnaire assessment. Results The post-training results showed significant increases in maximum phonation time, average fundamental frequency, and cepstral peak prominence smoothed, and significant decreases in jitter local, shimmer local, and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR) (p<.05). Furthermore, a significant improvement was observed in the participants’ voice-related quality of life. The long-term post-intervention evaluation showed that the improvement of NHR observed in the short-term efficacy was maintained for 12-weeks post-intervention (p<.05). Conclusion After the oral and pharyngolaryngeal strengthening training using a mobile application, voice function and voice-related quality of life in elderly women were improved and the improvement of voice function was maintained in the long term follow-up. This training protocol can be of use as an effective voice therapy for presbyphonia.