Health-Related Quality of Life in Pediatric Dysphonia

Abstract

Childhood dysphonia is a broad condition that can be difficult to investigate and quantify. As clinicians and researchers, we often consider the severity and duration of a child’s voice disturbance and then extrapolate the degree of impact that the disturbance may have on the child’s ability to communicate effectively. While the field of pediatric dysphonia has advanced by providing objective data via acoustic and aerodynamic measures, it is unlikely that we are able to fully understand the way in which dysphonia affects children’s lives without exploring health-related quality of life. Too often in childhood dysphonia, clinical judgments are made regarding the effect of a pediatric voice disorder through a caregiver report rather than asking the child directly. This continues to be problematic because the self-evaluation process is important in establishing therapy goals and measuring subsequent intervention outcomes.