Nasalance change after sinonasal surgery: analysis of voice after septoturbinoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery.

BACKGROUND: Changes in nasalance caused by resonance change after endonasal surgeries have been reported in prior studies. In clinical practice, although patients often complain of a nasal voice just after surgery, their voices recover over time. The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term nasalance changes before and after endonasal surgery.

METHODS: Patients who underwent sinonasal surgery at Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital between March 2009 and July 2011 were included in this study. We classified the subjects into three groups according to the surgeries they underwent: group 1, the septoturbinoplasty group; group 2, the endoscopic sinus surgery group; and group 3, the septoturbinoplasty and endoscopic sinus surgery group. We checked acoustic profiles, Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain (GRBAS) scores, and nasalance using a nasometer before and after the sinonasal surgery.

RESULTS: When considering multidimensional voice program results, no observed parameters showed statistically meaningful changes before or after the operation in all three groups. GRBAS scales in all patients changed less than two scales postoperatively. Nasalance increased at 1 month after the operation in all groups. However, it returned to original levels with time: 3 months in group 2 and 6 months in groups 1 and 3.

CONCLUSION: Sinonasal surgery can change the acoustic characteristics of the vocal tract and produce a significant increase in nasality in the early phase. However, after proper healing of the nasal cavity, nasality was observed to become similar to the preoperative level. Therefore, patients, especially voice professionals, do not need to be wary of voice changes after sinonasal surgery.