Vocal Complaint, Auditory-perceptual Assessment of Voice and Vocal Self-assessment in Women with Morbid Obesity

BACKGROUND Obese people often have altered breathing patterns and therefore may experience difficulties in voice production. AIM To verify the presence of vocal complaints and the correlation between the auditory-perceptual analysis of voice and vocal self-assessment of a group of women with morbid obesity before and after bariatric surgery. METHODS A longitudinal, exploratory, descriptive study of 21 morbidly obese women aged between 28 and 68 years, assessed before and after bariatric surgery, was performed. The women filled out a form containing identification data and type of vocal complaint. Perceptual evaluation of voice and vocal self-assessment were performed using a visual analog scale. For perceptual assessment of voice the women were asked to say three sentences from the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice. RESULTS Of the 21 patients, 14 (66.6%) reported vocal complaints, of which 10 (71%) vocal fatigue, eight (57.14%) voice failures and seven (50%) vocal effort. All participants reported improvements in the voice after surgery, irrespective of having reported vocal complaints before surgery. There was no correlation between vocal self-assessment and auditory-perceptual assessment of the voice before or after the procedure. There was no correlation between vocal self-assessment and perceptual evaluation of the voice before surgery. CONCLUSION Obesity interfered with voice production and influenced negative perception and therefore vocal complaints. Complaints about vocal production cannot be perceived by a speech therapist with the same impact as by patients, as both employ different criteria for vocal evaluation. Vocal self-assessment is an important tool in voice evaluation.