Assessment of Effects of Septoplasty on Acoustic Parameters of Voice: A Prospective Clinical Study.

Objective To investigate the effects of septoplasty on the acoustic parameters of voice. Methods In total, 23 patients (seven females and 16 males; average age, 32.13±9.67 years; age range: 19-56 years) with a diagnosis of nasal septal deviation and who underwent septoplasty were included. Preoperative and on postoperative 30th day, acoustic analysis of voice was conducted for all patients. The recordings of /mana/ vowel were used to evaluate average fundamental frequency (F0), jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmony ratio (NHR). F0, shimmer percent, jitter percent, and NHR of two terms were compared. A p-value<0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. Results A statistically significant change was not observed in F0 (p=0.741), jitter (p=0.930), and shimmer (p=0.128) measured preoperatively and on postoperative day 30. However, the increase in NHR measured on postoperative day 30 were statistically significant compared with preoperative NHR (p=0.017). Conclusion According to the findings of this study, except NHR value, no statistically significant changes on F0, jitter and shimmer were detected after septoplasty.