Effect of Clinical Expertise on Efficacy of Vocal Function Exercises in Individuals With Typical Voice.

To determine the effect of clinical expertise on efficacy of Vocal Function Exercises (VFEs) as measured by change in percent of maximum phonation time goal attained. The hypothesis was that clinical expertise would result in greater increases in percent of maximum phonation time goal attained. Randomized controlled trial. A convenience sample of 19 individuals with typical voice was recruited in a university academic clinic setting. All participants completed baseline assessment and 17 completed all study procedures. Participants were randomized to receive VFEs from an expert voice clinician with more than 40 years' experience (expert group (EG)) or from a master's student in Communication Sciences and Disorders trained in VFEs (novice group (NG)). The primary outcome measure was change in percent of maximum phonation time goal attained during VFE tasks 1 and 4. Mean change scores for maximum phonation time were 27.71 (P = 0.001) and 25.31 (P = 0.003) for EG and NG, respectively. Both groups improved significantly on the primary outcome measure, but the difference between groups was not statistically significant (P = 0.759). A Hedges'-g effect size of -0.14 [-1.10, 0.81] was obtained comparing EG and NG groups, indicating a small negative effect of limited clinical expertise on VFE outcomes in individuals with typical voice. Speech-language pathologists with varied levels of expertise are capable of efficaciously administering VFEs in individuals with typical voice.

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Copyright © 2023 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The first two authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. The third author receives textbook royalties from Plural Publishing. The last author receives textbook and educational product royalties from Plural Publishing and Medbridge.