Comparison of voice characteristics following three different methods of treatment for laryngeal cancer

INTRODUCTION: Laryngeal cancer treatment has become more complex and diversified in past decades. Many different methods of treatment have evolved, and most have been able to restore the patient's function and maintain some form of functional speech. This study was designed to evaluate the voice and speech characteristics of patients who have undergone different treatments for laryngeal cancer and to compare those characteristics with those of age- and sex-matched normal laryngeal speakers. METHODS: Twenty-two male subjects participated in the study. Five men were treated with radiation therapy, 6 men had supracricoid partial laryngectomy, 6 men had undergone total laryngectomy with tracheoesophageal puncture, and 5 men were normal laryngeal speakers. Acoustic, aeromechanical, and perceptual assessments of speech were collected. RESULTS: Significant age effects were found for maximum phonation times. As age increased, maximum phonation time decreased (p < .005). Significant differences were found between groups for the following dependent variables: percentage of voiceless phonation, maximum phonation time, laryngeal airway resistance, subglottal pressure, oral flow, and word intelligibility. Trends in the data for differences between groups were noted for the following acoustic variables: noise-to-harmonics ratio, jitter, and shimmer. CONCLUSIONS: All patients developed or maintained a source of voicing after treatment and could use speech functionally, as demonstrated by normal sentence intelligibility. The radiation treatment group had voices that differed the least from the control group, whereas the opposite was true for the surgical groups, especially for those with total laryngectomy.