Evaluating the Feasibility of Acapella® Choice as a Dysphonia Treatment

Dysphonia Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluating the Therapeutic Use of a Vibratory Positive Expiratory Pressure Device (Acapella® Choice) in the Treatment of Pathological Voice - A Feasibility Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04764604
• Other study ID #: 18/0434
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: December 14, 2020
• Est. completion date: November 29, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: July 2023
• Source: University College, London
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

A feasibility study to identify the immediate effect on the voices of patients with voice disorders (muscle tension dysphonia, vocal fold palsy or presbylaryngis) produced by exercising with Acapella Choice as a form of semioccluded vocal tract exercise (SOVTE).

Description:

This feasibility study is the natural extension of the researchers' recently completed study (R&D 16/0242) which assessed how the use of an Acapella Choice (Smiths Medical) positive expiratory pressure (PEP) device as a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise (SOVTE) impacted acoustic, electroglottographic and aerodynamic measures of the voice in a group of normophonic volunteers. In that study, Acapella Choice was found to offer significantly greater oscillating intraoral pressures than techniques in current clinical practice and was found to have measurable benefits in terms of producing a louder and more economical voice. It offered the largest oscillating pressures, likened to a 'massage' of the vocal organs, giving it great therapeutic promise for patients with excess vocal tract tension.

This study seeks to evaluate the immediate effects of Acapella Choice as a voice exercise in patients with Muscle Tension Dysphonia, Presbylaryngis and Vocal Fold Palsy, and compare this to the widely-used voice rehabilitation technique of phonation into a tube held under water (henceforward referred to as "Tube"). Patients will be recruited from four weekly Voice Clinics held at the Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital where their diagnosis will be confirmed. They will be invited to attend a single experimental session during which time they will exercise both with Acapella Choice and with Tube. Baseline and outcome voice measures will be taken and a short questionnaire will be completed, eliciting perceptions of the two exercises and any changes which were felt to have resulted from them.

The researchers' previous work suggests that Acapella Choice as a SOVTE may offer significant clinical benefits in terms of improved efficacy of therapy. It is suggested that it also offers patients a more convenient and user-friendly form of exercise which may well improve compliance and result in better outcomes.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 30
• Est. completion date: November 29, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: November 29, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 90 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Able to understand written English without the need for an interpreter,

• No diagnosed communication impairment

• Endoscopically confirmed primary ENT diagnosis of either:

1. muscle tension dysphonia (with no laryngeal abnormality),

2. Vocal fold palsy

3. Presbylaryngis.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous SLT input

• Any of the following possible contraindications for PEP therapy:

• Inability to tolerate increased work of breathing,

• ICP (intracranial pressure) > 20mm Hg,

• Recent facial/oral/skull surgery or trauma,

• Oesophageal surgery,

• Untreated pneumothorax,

• Known or suspected tympanic membrane rupture/other middle ear pathology,

• Haemodynamic instability,

• Acute sinusitis,

• Epistaxis,

• Active haemoptysis,

• Nausea

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Dysphonia
• Hoarseness
• Muscle Tension Dysphonia
• Paralysis
• Presbylarynx
• Vocal Cord Paralysis
• Vocal Fold Palsy

Intervention

Device:
• Acapella Choice
3 minutes of exercise consisting of blowing through the device (on setting '5') and phonating at the same time.
• Tube-in-water
3 minutes of exercise consisting of blowing through a silicone tube (10mm internal diameter) submerged in 5 cm of water whilst phonating at the same time.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United Kingdom	Royal National ENT Hospital, UCLH Hospitals NHS Trust	London

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University College, London	Smiths Medical, ASD, Inc.

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United Kingdom, 

References & Publications (22)

Amarante Andrade P, Wistbacka G, Larsson H, Sodersten M, Hammarberg B, Simberg S, Svec JG, Granqvist S. The Flow and Pressure Relationships in Different Tubes Commonly Used for Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercises. J Voice. 2016 Jan;30(1):36-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.02.004. Epub 2015 Apr 11. — View Citation

Andrade PA, Wood G, Ratcliffe P, Epstein R, Pijper A, Svec JG. Electroglottographic study of seven semi-occluded exercises: LaxVox, straw, lip-trill, tongue-trill, humming, hand-over-mouth, and tongue-trill combined with hand-over-mouth. J Voice. 2014 Sep;28(5):589-95. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.11.004. Epub 2014 Feb 20. — View Citation

Awan SN, Gartner-Schmidt JL, Timmons LK, Gillespie AI. Effects of a Variably Occluded Face Mask on the Aerodynamic and Acoustic Characteristics of Connected Speech in Patients With and Without Voice Disorders. J Voice. 2019 Sep;33(5):809.e1-809.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2018.03.002. Epub 2018 Aug 3. — View Citation

Enflo L, Sundberg J, Romedahl C, McAllister A. Effects on vocal fold collision and phonation threshold pressure of resonance tube phonation with tube end in water. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2013 Oct;56(5):1530-8. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0040). Epub 2013 Jul 9. — View Citation

Gaskill CS, Erickson ML. The effect of a voiced lip trill on estimated glottal closed quotient. J Voice. 2008 Nov;22(6):634-43. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2007.03.012. Epub 2007 Jun 15. — View Citation

Gaskill CS, Erickson ML. The effect of an artificially lengthened vocal tract on estimated glottal contact quotient in untrained male voices. J Voice. 2010 Jan;24(1):57-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2008.05.004. Epub 2009 Jan 9. — View Citation

Gaskill CS, Quinney DM. The effect of resonance tubes on glottal contact quotient with and without task instruction: a comparison of trained and untrained voices. J Voice. 2012 May;26(3):e79-93. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2011.03.003. Epub 2011 May 7. — View Citation

Granqvist S, Simberg S, Hertegard S, Holmqvist S, Larsson H, Lindestad PA, Sodersten M, Hammarberg B. Resonance tube phonation in water: High-speed imaging, electroglottographic and oral pressure observations of vocal fold vibrations--a pilot study. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2015 Oct;40(3):113-21. doi: 10.3109/14015439.2014.913682. Epub 2014 May 28. — View Citation

Guzman M, Calvache C, Romero L, Munoz D, Olavarria C, Madrid S, Leiva M, Bortnem C, Pino J. Do Different Semi-Occluded Voice Exercises Affect Vocal Fold Adduction Differently in Subjects Diagnosed with Hyperfunctional Dysphonia? Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2015;67(2):68-75. doi: 10.1159/000437353. Epub 2015 Sep 23. Erratum In: Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2015;67(2):75. Pino, J [added]. — View Citation

Guzman M, Castro C, Madrid S, Olavarria C, Leiva M, Munoz D, Jaramillo E, Laukkanen AM. Air Pressure and Contact Quotient Measures During Different Semioccluded Postures in Subjects With Different Voice Conditions. J Voice. 2016 Nov;30(6):759.e1-759.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.09.010. Epub 2016 Jun 13. — View Citation

Guzman M, Castro C, Testart A, Munoz D, Gerhard J. Laryngeal and pharyngeal activity during semioccluded vocal tract postures in subjects diagnosed with hyperfunctional dysphonia. J Voice. 2013 Nov;27(6):709-16. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.05.007. Epub 2013 Sep 26. — View Citation

Guzman M, Higueras D, Fincheira C, Munoz D, Guajardo C, Dowdall J. Immediate acoustic effects of straw phonation exercises in subjects with dysphonic voices. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2013 Apr;38(1):35-45. doi: 10.3109/14015439.2012.731079. Epub 2013 Jan 28. — View Citation

Guzman M, Laukkanen AM, Krupa P, Horacek J, Svec JG, Geneid A. Vocal tract and glottal function during and after vocal exercising with resonance tube and straw. J Voice. 2013 Jul;27(4):523.e19-34. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2013.02.007. Epub 2013 May 15. — View Citation

Mueller G, Bersch-Porada I, Koch-Borner S, Raab AM, Jonker M, Baumberger M, Michel F. Laboratory evaluation of four different devices for secretion mobilization: Acapella choice, green and blue versus water bottle. Respir Care. 2014 May;59(5):673-7. doi: 10.4187/respcare.02654. Epub 2013 Sep 17. — View Citation

Patterson JE, Hewitt O, Kent L, Bradbury I, Elborn JS, Bradley JM. Acapella versus 'usual airway clearance' during acute exacerbation in bronchiectasis: a randomized crossover trial. Chron Respir Dis. 2007;4(2):67-74. doi: 10.1177/1479972306075483. — View Citation

Radolf V, Laukkanen A, Horacek J, Liu D. In vivo measurements of air pressure, vocal folds vibration and acoustic characteristics of phonation into a straw and resonance tube used in vocal exercising. In: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference Engineering Mechanics, Czech Republic. ; 2013:478-483.

Simberg S, Laine A. The resonance tube method in voice therapy: description and practical implementations. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2007;32(4):165-70. doi: 10.1080/14015430701207790. — View Citation

Sovijärvi A. Die Bestimmung der Stimmkategorien mittels Resonanzröhren. [Voice classification according to resonance tubes]. In: Fifth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Basel, NY. ; 1965.

Titze IR, Story BH. Acoustic interactions of the voice source with the lower vocal tract. J Acoust Soc Am. 1997 Apr;101(4):2234-43. doi: 10.1121/1.418246. — View Citation

Titze IR. Voice training and therapy with a semi-occluded vocal tract: rationale and scientific underpinnings. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2006 Apr;49(2):448-59. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2006/035). — View Citation

Vampola T, Laukkanen AM, Horacek J, Svec JG. Vocal tract changes caused by phonation into a tube: a case study using computer tomography and finite-element modeling. J Acoust Soc Am. 2011 Jan;129(1):310-5. doi: 10.1121/1.3506347. — View Citation

Wistbacka G, Sundberg J, Simberg S. Vertical laryngeal position and oral pressure variations during resonance tube phonation in water and in air. A pilot study. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2016 Oct;41(3):117-23. doi: 10.3109/14015439.2015.1028101. Epub 2015 Jun 2. — View Citation

* Note: There are 22 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change in Baseline Cepstral/Spectral Index of Dysphonia (CSID)	A quantitative, multivariate, dysphonia summary tool that incorporates spectral (low/high spectral ratio) and cepstral measures (cepstral peak prominence), and their standard deviations, extracted from a continuous speech or sustained vowel sample utilising the software Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (Kay Pentax, Montvale, NJ). The software calculates CSID on the scale of 0-100, whereby 0 represents no evidence of hoarse voice, and 100 represents a maximum amount of hoarseness. See: Awan SN, Roy N, Dromey C. Estimating dysphonia severity in continuous speech: Application of a multi-parameter spectralcepstral model estimating dysphonia severity in continuous speech. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. 2009;23(11):825-841. doi:10.3109/02699200903242988.	Immediately after 3 minutes of exercise
Secondary	Change in Baseline Sound Pressure Level (dB)	Intensity of vocal signal	Immediately after 3 minutes of exercise
Secondary	Change in Baseline Mean Contact Quotient	A percentage which illustrates the duration of vocal fold contact during one vocal fold period as measured by electroglottogram (EGG).	During 3 minutes of exercise (continual) and immediately following exercise.
Secondary	Change in Subglottic Pressure	Measures of air pressure in the mouth.	During 3 minutes of exercise (continual)
Secondary	Transglottic Airflow	Measures of flow of air through the vocal tract.	During 3 minutes of exercise (continual)
Secondary	Change in Baseline Laryngeal Resistance	Derived from dividing mean intraoral pressure during /p/ by mean transglottic airflow during /a/ during a task which elicits repetition of 'pa-pa-pa-pa-pa'	Immediately after 3 minutes of exercise
Secondary	Change in Baseline Perceptual Voice Quality	Expert ratings of overall voice quality using a simple ad-hoc 100mm visual analog scale (ranging from 0-100, reflecting a scale of normal voice quality to highly abnormal voice quality {higher numbers reflect more abnormality}).	Immediately after 3 minutes of exercise
Secondary	Change in Baseline Participant Self-ratings - Voice Quality	Participant self-rating of voice quality (on a 100mm visual analog scale (0-100) where higher numbers reflect self-perception of better voice quality/ease of production)	Immediately after 3 minutes of exercise