The study of the voice acoustic parameters in adult athletes with hearing loss

Auditory feedback mechanism is responsible for controlling speech and voice, so, any changes in the auditory system, influences voice parameters, including fundamental frequency deviation, changes in frequency, intensity, and resonance. The present study was carried out to study the effect of hearing loss on the quality of voice and phonation in athletes with regards to their exercise type.
The present cross-sectional study was performed on 30 athlete adults with severe to profound hearing loss. The participants ranged between 18-30 years old. To analyze acoustic parameters, the vowel /a/ was reviewed for 5 seconds using MDVP software for fundamental frequency and its variation, jitter, Shimmer, changes in intensity, and noise to harmonic ratio.
The results showed that there is no significant correlation between voice acoustic parameters and demographic factors (p>0.05), fundamental frequency (p=0.78), and noise to harmonic ratio (p=0.09) in participants with severe and profound hearing losses. There was no significant difference in the fundamental frequency (p=0.01) among the three sport groups either. Moreover, NHR and VTI, among these three groups, showed no significant differences, however a significant difference was observed in fundamental frequency (p=0.03) among the three groups.
Hearing loss has impacts on various voice parameters and changes in these parameters are correlated with the individual's sport types. The findings of the present study can be used in providing better feedbacks during treatments and in giving corrective hints in improving hearing aids and sport programs.