Evaluating the Feasibility of Acapella Choice as a Dysphonia Treatment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating the Therapeutic Use of a Vibratory Positive Expiratory Pressure Device (Acapella® Choice) in the Treatment of Pathological Voice - A Feasibility Study
IRAS ID
251733
Contact name
Brian Saccente-Kennedy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London Hospital Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 24 days
Research summary
This feasibility study is the natural extension of our recently completed study (IRAS: 204425; 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.
We seek in this study 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 our currently-used 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.
Our previous work suggests that Acapella Choice as a SOVTE may offer significant clinical benefits in terms of improved efficacy of therapy. We suggest that it also offers patients a more convenient and user-friendly form of exercise which may well improve compliance and result in better outcomes.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0066
Date of REC Opinion
14 Feb 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion