Immediate Effects of Phonation into the Tube Protocol on the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI) and Perceptual Self-Evaluation in Future Speech-Language Pathologists

The aim of this study was to investigate the immediate effects of the protocol of phonation into tube on DSI as an objective multi-parametric approach for measuring voice quality and perceptual self evaluation in senior students participating in clinical training to become speech language pathologists (SLPs).
Eleven future SLPs (7 females and 4 males) with an average age of 22.51 performed the protocol of phonation into tube. The immediate effects of phonation into tube exercise program were evaluated by dysphonia severity index (DSI) and self-evaluation of perceived phonatory comfort.
After phonation in the tube exercise program, DSI and all its parameters significantly improved. Results of the paired t-test showed that MPT (P = 0.02), F-high (P = 0.001), i-low (P The results of this study suggest that phonation in tube exerciseprogrammaylead toanimprovementof vocal quality and voice fatigue in future SLPs.