The Impact of Breathing Patterns on the Maximum Phonation Time Result

Introduction:The measurement of maximum phonation time (MPT) is an internationally established, validated measurement method for the aerodynamic investigation of voice efficiency.The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different breathing patterns (abdominal, thoracic, clavicular, and paradoxical movement during inhalation) on the MPT result.Materials and methods: In a prospective cross-sectional study, the MPT values of 29 female speech-language pathology (SLP) students with vocally healthy voices were analyzed.These volunteers were already trained during their education in using different breathing patterns.Each participant performed each breathing pattern on the MPT measurements in a randomized order, and two extra MPT performances were conducted at the beginning and at the end of the experiment to evaluate a potential training effect on the MPT results.An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with repeated measures was conducted to assess the impact of breathing patterns on the MPT performance.The considered covariances were the education time, age, and additional voice performances in the participants' everyday life.The training effect was analyzed using a dependent t-test. Results:No training effect on MPT was observed as a result of the multiple repetitions (p = 0.199).The ANCOVA of repeated measures revealed no significant main effect among the different breathing patterns on the MPT result (p = 0.31, p 2 = 0.05).Furthermore, the covariances also had no impact on the MPT result (age: p = 0.32, p 2 = 0.05, education time: p = 0.37, p 2 = 0.05, and additional voice performances: p = 0.12, p 2 = 0.08). Conclusion:In the present study, the breathing pattern revealed no significant impact on the MPT result, which leads to a preliminary conclusion that the breathing pattern should be considered less in a diagnostic examination of MPT.However, further research is needed to substantiate these findings.