Evaluation of the effects of electrostimulation therapy on swallowing and voice in individuals with partial laryngectomy

Partial laryngectomies are surgical procedures performed by removing some of the larynx. As a result of this surgery, aspiration, dysphagia and various voice disorders may occur in individuals. These symptoms reduce the quality of life of individuals and may even result in death. Conventional swallowing and voice rehabilitation after partial laryngectomy can be a slow process, so speech and language pathologists looked for new methods. There are studies in the literature using NMES for dysphagia and voice therapy but whether this method is useful in the therapy of individuals with partial laryngectomy has not been evaluated. Based on this deficiency in the literature; in this study, NMES was applied to 20 individuals with partial laryngectomy after surgery. The swallowing functions were evulated by fiberoptic endoscop, sound quality was evaluated by acoustic voice analysis and VHI. These values ​​were compared before and after therapy. The results of this study showed that NMES improves swallowing and voice and is a reliable method for treatment. Keywords; partial laryngectomy, neuromuscular electrical stimulation, VitalStim, voice handicap index, acoustic voice analysis, swallowing disorders