Correlation Between The Arabic Pediatric Voice Related Quality of Life (PV-RQOL), The Auditory Perceptual Assessment and Acoustic Analysis of Voice in Dysphonic Children

Voice is the carrier wave for speech signal. It can also be defined as an audible sound produced by phonation . It is a primary mean of expression and oral communication and has life-long importance to social well-being.

Through life, voice development follows and represents organic, psychological, and social changes in the person .

Any disruption of the function of voice is called dysphonia . defination of dysphonia is perceptual audible change of a patient's habitual voice as self-judged or judged by his or her listeners.

The incidence of the pediatric voice disorders ranges from 6%-23%, while, stated that voice disorders affect approximately 6-9% of pediatric population. Boys were statistically more likely to have dysphonia (7.5%) over girls (4.6%) , abnormal vocal presentations (symptomatology) include: phonasthenia ,dysphonia, aphonia and dysodia. Dysphonia may adversely impact a child's general health, communicative effectiveness, social and educational development, self-esteem, and participation in school group activities. Hence, dysphonia has a substantial negative effect on children's lives.Although voice disorders are common in the pediatric population; there is still a lack of information available to clinicians regarding evaluation and treatment of pediatric voice disorders.

Etiology of Voice disorders can be subdivided into 3 main groups: There are the organic voice disorders (There are detectable morphological changes in the vocal apparatus), Non-organic (functional) voice disorders (There is no detectable organic pathology in the structure of the larynx) and Minimal Associated Pathological Lesions (MAPLs) (Long-standing, non-organic (functional) voice disorders leading to the creation of detectable organic changes.