Efficacy of ayurvedic medicine on the voice of individuals with hyperfunctional voice disorders

Abstract

The Ayurvedic approach of treatment for voice disorders, as mentioned in classical texts of Ayurved, has been utilized effectively over the years. But limited research is available to validate it. Keeping all these facts in view, a clinical trial was planned to study the efficacy of an Ayurvedic formulation over hyperfunctional voice disorders. Eight females were selected and were randomly divided into two groups named as; experimental and control group. The experimental group was administered with the Ayurvedic formulation along with vocal hygiene program, while the control group was given only vocal hygiene program. A voice protocol was followed which included detailed case history, stroboscopic evaluation and acoustic and perceptual assessment for all the participants. Pre-post treatment design was used. Kruscal Wallis test was carried out to compare the variables between pre and post treatment. Significant improvement (p < 0.05) was seen for f0, overall grade and also for stroboscopic parameters. Significant improvements in voice quality highlighted that the Ayurvedic formulation is proved to be effective on the participants of the present study and hence can be stated to be a probable treatment for hyperfunctional voice disorders.