Background :
Obese people often have altered breathing patterns and therefore may experience difficulties in voice production.
Aim
: To verify the presence of vocal complaints and the correlation between the auditory-perceptual analysis of voice and vocal self-assessment of a group of women with morbid obesity before and after bariatric surgery.
Methods
: A longitudinal, exploratory, descriptive study of 21 morbidly obese women aged between 28 and 68 years, assessed before and after bariatric surgery, was performed. The women filled out a form containing identification data and type of vocal complaint. Perceptual evaluation of voice and vocal self-assessment were performed using a visual analog scale. For perceptual assessment of voice the women were asked to say three sentences from the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice.
Results
: Of the 21 patients, 14 (66.6%) reported vocal complaints, of which 10 (71%) vocal fatigue, eight (57.14%) voice failures and seven (50%) vocal effort. All participants reported improvements in the voice after surgery, irrespective of having reported vocal complaints before surgery. There was no correlation between vocal self-assessment and auditory-perceptual assessment of the voice before or after the procedure. There was no correlation between vocal self-assessment and perceptual evaluation of the voice before surgery.
Conclusion
: Obesity interfered with voice production and influenced negative perception and therefore vocal complaints. Complaints about vocal production cannot be perceived by a speech therapist with the same impact as by patients, as both employ different criteria for vocal evaluation. Vocal self-assessment is an important tool in voice evaluation.
Voice; Self-assessment; Morbid obesity; Bariatric surgery