Introduction. Bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis usually occurs
after thyroid surgery. In bilateral vocal cord paralysis, the voice is clear
or slightly hoarse. The aim of this study was to determine whether the
quality of voice and speech significantly deteriorates after the surgical
treatment of bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis. Material and
Methods. The study included 16 patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis
and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The patients underwent partial
arytenoidectomy with posterior cordectomy at the Clinical Center of Vojvodina
in the period from January to April 2014. The quality of voice and speech was
determined before and after surgical treatment by subjective, objective,
aerodynamic voice analysis, and analysis of spontaneous speech, and then
compared to the control group. Results. The results of this study showed that
in patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis the voice and speech quality
was significantly worse compared to the healthy subjects. The results of
subjective and aerodynamic analysis showed that there was a statistically
significant deterioration in voice quality after the surgical treatment
(p<0.05; p=0.001). The values of objective analysis and analysis of
spontaneous speech parameters did not significantly change after the surgery
(p>0.05; p=0.401). Conclusion. The patients with bilateral vocal cord
paralysis have a poorer voice and speech quality compared to the healthy
subjects. After the surgical treatment, patients presented with a lower voice
quality, but there were no significant changes regarding the ability of
spontaneous speech.
The quality of voice and speech before and after surgical treatment of bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis