Voice in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

The present study analysed the acoustic and perceptual voice characteristics in persons with GERD and LPR. 10 subjects with GERD, 10 subjects with LPR, and 50 normal controls were selected. Sustained speech samples of /a/, /i/ & /u/ and the narrated samples were recorded. The narrated samples were subjected to perceptual rating on GRBAS scale and 33 acoustic parameters of Multi Dimensional Voice Profile software (MDVP) were extracted from the sustained voice sample. It was found that few of the subjects with LPR were perceptually rated as exhibiting deviations in the form of mild to moderate roughness, breathy and strained voice whereas few of the subjects exhibited perceptually normal voice. The subjects with LPR showed significant deviations in frequency perturbation measures, Amplitude perturbation measures and noise related measures in (MDVP) software. Abnormalities in acoustic and perceptual parameters of voice were not evident in subjects with GERD. Hence, the present study confirms that GERD and LPR are distinct disorders with reference to voice and these results can be used for the early identification of voice problems due to Laryngopharyngeal Reflux.