Correlation of Clinical Profile and Voice Handicap Index-10 Scoring of Patients with Hoarseness of Voice: An Observational Study

Introduction: Human voice is a very unique trait.Any discordance in this ability causes an extreme amount of distress among people.Hoarseness is defined as a rough, grating, harsh voice with a lower pitch.Hoarseness is a symptom that should not be overlooked.Its onset might be either abrupt or chronic.It may be caused by infections and inflammatory conditions.The Vocal Handicap Index (VHI-10) is a disease-specific tool.It assesses the impact of voice issues on a patient's quality of life.It is more responsive to general population changes than generic surveys.This has the potential to boost therapy effectiveness as well.Methodology: Patients of both sexes > 8 years were included in the study.Patients participated after giving written informed consent.A thorough clinical history and complete ENT examination were carried out.Indirect laryngoscopy, 70-degree endoscopy, and fiberoptic laryngoscopy examination were also performed wherever necessary.After diagnosis, a score was awarded to each patient on the basis of the VHI-10 score.Observation and results: Out of 60 patients, 39% patients were males.The 41-50-year age-group patients were largely affected.The VHI-10 score was higher in males than in females.It was also higher in patients having long-standing history and the elderly age-group.A total of 100% of the patients presented with complaints of hoarseness.Vocal nodule (26.7%) was the common clinical finding seen among our cases, followed by vocal polyp (20%) cases.Most of the patients were unemployed in this study.The comparison of mean VHI-10 score using the one-way ANOVA test showed that traumatic disorders had a significantly higher mean VHI-10 score compared to movement disorders.The mean VHI-10 score calculated was 24.70 7.87 (12-38).Conclusion: Hoarseness is a common clinical entity encountered in the ENT clinics.The symptom should not be ignored.It should be assessed properly, and necessary investigations should be carried out to not delaying treatment.Males were more affected, and smoking was the common addiction habit among patients.Therefore, the patient should be counseled on deaddiction and vocal hygiene importance.The VHI-10 score was awarded to each patient.It is a reliable tool to assess patients with hoarseness.