Mara Behlau

Universidade Federal de São Paulo | UNIFESP · Departamento de Fonoaudiologia

Purpose To compare the vowel emission and number counting tasks in perceptual-auditory differentiation among children with and without laryngeal lesions. Methods Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional methods were used. Medical records of 44 children were selected from a database of an otorhinolaryngology service at a University Hospital a...

Purpose To compare the vowel emission and number counting tasks in perceptual-auditory differentiation among children with and without laryngeal lesions. Methods Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional methods were used. Medical records of 44 children were selected from a database of an otorhinolaryngology service at a University Hospital a...

Objective: this study aims to verify the stages of evidence of validity of the voice-adapted present perceived control scale (V-APPCS) in its translated and cross-culturally adapted version for the Brazilian Portuguese "Voice-Adapted Present Perceived Control Scale" and to estimate the psychometric measurements of the properties of its items based...

Introduction Musicians have an advantage over non-musicians in detecting, perceiving, and processing nonverbal (i.e., environmental sounds, tones and others) and verbal sounds (i.e., consonant, vowel, phrases and others) as well as instrumental sounds. In contrast to the high skill of musicians, there is another group of people who are tone-deaf an...

Purpose To verify the self-perception of symptoms and vocal fatigue related to thyroidectomy in individuals with thyroid cancer in the pre, immediate post and late post-operative moments, and to analyze the influence of gender. Methods Intervention study before and after with 20 individuals, mean age 46 years, evaluated before surgery (M1), immedi...

Purpose To verify the self-perception of symptoms and vocal fatigue related to thyroidectomy in individuals with thyroid cancer in the pre, immediate post and late post-operative moments, and to analyze the influence of gender. Methods Intervention study before and after with 20 individuals, mean age 46 years, evaluated before surgery (M1), immedi...

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the possible vocal impact confirmed by diagnostic tests, the degree of perception of possible vocal impairment by patients with Unilateral Diaphragmatic paralysis (UDP) and its correlation with ventilatory weakness. Methods: The researchers conducted an analytical, observational and case-control study...

Purpose To verify if the stimulation of auditory skills of speech therapists with and without difficulty in auditory processing (CAP) interferes in performance of auditory-perceptual assessment (APA) regarding predominant vocal deviation. Methods Prospective, quasi-experimental study, conducted with 26 speech therapists and developed in five stage...

Purpose To verify if the stimulation of auditory skills of speech therapists with and without difficulty in auditory processing (CAP) interferes in performance of auditory-perceptual assessment (APA) regarding predominant vocal deviation. Methods Prospective, quasi-experimental study, conducted with 26 speech therapists and developed in five stage...

Voice is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon of interest to different disciplines. Divergent terminologies and, consequently, classification systems constitute, historically, a difficulty in this field of knowledge, which limits communication between professionals from different countries, backgrounds, and clinical experiences, and well as li...

Objetivo: Comparar a autoavaliação ao falar em público, por meio da Escala para Autoavaliação ao Falar em Público, com a percepção comunicacional e timidez autorreferidos, de estudantes universitários. Método: Tratou-se de um estudo observacional transversal prospectivo. Foram convidados a participar deste estudo, estudantes universitários do Bras...

Purpose: To compare self-assessment when speaking in public, using the Self-Statements During Public Speaking scale, with the communicational perception and self-reported shyness of university students. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional observational study. University students from different areas of knowledge in Brazil were invited...

Objective To evaluate the validity of the Self-assessment of Communication Competence – SACCom by analyzing the communication competency of adult individuals using the item response theory (IRT). Methods Overall, 778 individuals who responded to SACCom participated in this study. The initial version consisted of 20 polytomous items regarding commu...

This text is the continuation of the XVIII SBFa Congress publication. In part “A” we presented the analyses on clinical vocal evaluation. Part “B” focuses on vocal rehabilitation: 4. Traditional techniques of vocal therapy; 5. Modern techniques of electrostimulation and photobiomodulation applied to vocal rehabilitation. The numerous studies on the...

This text is the continuation of the XVIII SBFa Congress publication. In part “A” we presented the analyses on clinical vocal evaluation. Part “B” focuses on vocal rehabilitation: 4. Traditional techniques of vocal therapy; 5. Modern techniques of electrostimulation and photobiomodulation applied to vocal rehabilitation. The numerous studies on the...

During the XXVIII Brazilian Congress of SBFa, 24 specialists met and, from a leading position on scientific research as a tool for connecting laboratory and clinic, five fronts of knowledge of the voice specialty were discussed as following: Perceptual-auditory judgment of vocal quality; 2. Acoustic analysis of the vocal signal; 3. Voice self-asses...

During the XXVIII Brazilian Congress of SBFa, 24 specialists met and, from a leading position on scientific research as a tool for connecting laboratory and clinic, five fronts of knowledge of the voice specialty were discussed as following: Perceptual-auditory judgment of vocal quality; 2. Acoustic analysis of the vocal signal; 3. Voice self-asses...

Objective To map the execution of resonance tubes phonation immersed in water exercise in adults with healthy or altered voices. Methods This study was a scoping review. An electronic search was performed using the following databases: MEDLINE, LILACS, SCOPUS, Web of Science, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, gray literature, and a manual search. A blinde...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of the Therapy Program for Management of Chronic Cough (TMCC) in laryngeal sensations and symptoms related to the cough in individuals with chronic refractory cough (CRC). Method This research is a randomized double-blind clinical trial (Register Number: RBR-4m6x29). Eleven particip...

Purpose Identify the terms mentioned by the general population for healthy, rough and breathy vocal quality. Methods A test was carried out with 50 participants, in person, without academic or professional ties with Speech Therapy. The task was to hear three voices and define them freely. The first voice presented was predominantly breathy; the se...

This article describes the contribution of the speech-language pathologist, voice specialist SLP-V in the assessment of patients with voice problems. Part B explores acoustic analysis to measure the vocal signal and to produce comprehensive documentation of the patient; the physical examination to assess the involvement of body tension, including t...

Purpose: Verify and compare vocal deviation in quality, vocal symptoms and reflux symptom index in patients with clinical diagnosis of laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR). Methods: 100 individuals of both genders participated in this prospective study, aged between 18 and 60 years old, who presented signs of LPR in the nasofibrolaryngological exam. P...

The human voice is the product of a sophisticated interaction of aerodynamic and myoelastic forces, a perceptual phenomenon that is greatly influenced by vocal behaviour in interpersonal relationships. Vocal problems can be overly complex and can require a team approach, whether for diagnosis or treatment of the patient. This article describes the...

Purpose To investigate the occurrence of self-reported vocal complaints in the professional use of the voice in professional theater actors; analyze the correlation between the presence of vocal complaint and three self-assessment protocols of the vocal problem impact; The Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS), the Vocal Tract Discomfort (VTD) scale and the...

Purpose: Verify the effect of anchor repetition in the perceptual auditory judgement of the type of vocal deviation performed by speech-language pathology (SLP) students; analyze the correlation between the amount of different vocal dimensions in the same stimuli and accuracy; investigate the correlation between type of vocal deviation and accurac...

Purpose: To present the cross-cultural equivalence of the Brazilian version of the Specific Reinvestment Scale in Speech - SRRS through its cultural and linguistic adaptation. Methods: After the SSRS was translated into Brazilian Portuguese, the back-translation was done and the items were compared. Discrepancies were modified by consensus of a...

Objective There are different parts of a battery of voice assessments to assess voice functions and voice quality. The objective assessment of voice quality using acoustics is recommended and two measurements such as the Acoustic Voice Quality index, 03.01 (AVQI) and the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) are leading in this domain. The purpose of th...

Objective to map the clinical parameters used in the speech-language pathology assessment of the chronic cough. Methods a scoping review was performed to answer the clinical question: "What are the clinical parameters included in the speech-language pathology assessment of patients with chronic cough?" Evidence was searched by electronic and manua...

Objective This study aims to (1) determine the cut-off values of the Global Severity of vocal deviation on the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) from the numerical scale ratings, and (2) identify the cut-off values according to different degrees of vocal deviation used by Voice-Specialized Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP). Study design Prospective study...

Objectives To analyze the efficacy of speech-language pathology therapy in the self-assessment, in the cough frequency, and the vocal quality of adults with chronic cough. Methods This is a systematic review with meta-analysis that answered the clinical question: "In adults with chronic cough, what is the effect of the speech-language pathology th...

Objective To investigate whether actors’ and actresses’ voices post an Intensive Lessac Kinesensic Training Workshop – ILKTW can be perceptually identified as more resonant, and to assess if the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI), the Acoustic Breathing Index (ABI), and their acoustic measures are able to indicate the classified voices as more res...

Purpose The pandemic created new and urgent challenges to professionals in the field of communication sciences and disorders known as Phonoaudiology in Brazil. The Brazilian Association of Phonoaudiology has the second-largest group of professionals in this field. This article presents actions and projects of the scientific association taken to sup...

Purpose: This Brief Communication describes the professional coaching/coach counterpointed by the vocal coaching/coach. The aim is to introduce and explain these two coaching perspectives for a correct and specific use of the terms. Methods: Six undergraduate professors, speech language pathologists - SLP and/or professional coaches and/or vocal...

Dysphonia comprises many perceptually deviating aspects of voice, and its overall severity perception is made by the listener according to methods of aggregating the single dimensions which are personally conceived and not well studied. Roughness and breathiness are constituent dimensions in most devised rating scales in clinical use. In this paper...

Objetivo: identificar sinais e sintomas de DTM, bem como analisar os resultados de parâmetros vocais, do exame clínico físico de palpação muscular, da autopercepção de sintomas vocais, dor e fadiga vocal de mulheres com DTM e comparar com mulheres vocalmente saudáveis. Métodos: estudo transversal com 45 mulheres (23 com DTM e 22 controles), mediana...

Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to verify the influence of different cultural backgrounds and languages on the perception of voice quality. Another aim was to evaluate the correlation between clinical auditory-perceptual judgments with acoustic measurements, such as the acoustic voice quality index (AVQI) and acoustic breathiness inde...

Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the performance of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in synthesized voice samples. Method The validity of the AVQI and ABI performances was analyzed in synthesized voice samples controlling the degree of predefined deviations for overall voice...

Objective To develop a validity profile for the cough severity index in the Brazilian Portuguese language (CSI-Br). Methods The study sample consisted of 100 participants divided into Chronic Cough Group (CG; 50 individuals with a mean age of 46.4; standard deviation [SD]: 11.7) and Healthy Control Group (HCG; 50 individuals with a mean age of 33....

Objective To obtain evidence of validity for the URICA-V scale and estimate the psychometric properties of its items based on item response theory (IRT). Method A total of 658 individuals of both sexes over 18 years of age were allocated into two groups: with dysphonia group (WDG) and vocally healthy group (VHG). A digital database was constructed...

Objective To analyze the validity of the Newcastle Laryngeal Hypersensitivity Questionnaire (LHQ-Br) in Brazilian Portuguese. Methods The present study sample consisted of 89 individuals from the laryngeal hypersensitivity group and 41 individuals from the healthy group. The Newcastle Laryngeal Hypersensitivity Questionnaire's validation process f...

Background: High-resolution manometry (HRM) represents a potential tool for measuring pharyngoesophageal phonation pressures. Objective: This study aims to evaluate pharyngeal, esophageal upper sphincteric and esophageal pressures during different phonation tasks. Methods: 12 (six males, mean age 27 years) professional singers underwent HRM an...

Purpose: Investigate vocal fatigue and its relationship with the sensation of phonatory effort and discomfort in the vocal tract of teachers after a week of activity. Methods: Cross-sectional, quantitative study, involving 40 teachers with complaints of vocal fatigue. Procedures performed at the beginning and end of the week, before the classes...

Purpose: To present a proposal for speech-language pathology rehabilitation called the Therapy Program for Management of Chronic Cough (TMCC) for the treatment of refractory chronic cough. Methods: TMCC was developed based on two stages: literature and clinical analysis. The literature analysis stage was carried out through the following procedu...

Objectives Assess respiratory muscle strength, voice and the quality of life of patients with traumatic cervical and thoracic spinal cord injury. Methods Preliminary analytical case control study of 28 adult men, aged between 18 and 65 years, divided into two groups: a research group consisting of 14 patients with cervical and thoracic spinal cord...

Objetivo caracterizar e refletir sobre o processo de equivalência cultural e/ou validação de instrumentos de autoavaliação vocal traduzidos e adaptados para o português brasileiro, utilizados na prática clínica e em pesquisas científicas. Estratégia de pesquisa Buscas realizadas nas bases de dados: SciELO, LILACS, PubMed e The Cochrane Library. C...

Coaching is one of the most common words in our modern vocabulary and has many meanings depending on the setting in which it is used. Coaching facilitates positive changes to achieve a goal, usually through indirect approaches, including improving an individual's outlook on their behaviors or attitudes. Its application has spread beyond the corpora...

Objective To propose a short instrument for the screening of dysphonia in the Brazilian population through the investigation of traditional voice self-assessment instrument items. Methods We analyzed the medical records of 139 individuals with an average age of 37.4 years and a minimum and maximum age of 18 and 77 years, respectively. The particip...

Objective: To assess the concurrent validity and the diagnostic accuracy of the Acoustic Breathiness Index (ABI) in Brazilian Portuguese. Methods: The counting numbers 1–20 and the vowel /a/ of 150 subjects were recorded (37 vocally healthy and 113 with dysphonia). The analyzed samples were the counting number 1–11 and 3 s of the sustained vowel....

Background It is believed that auditory processing occurs normally in people who can sing in tune and improperly in people who cannot. Auditory feedback seems to be a crucial factor in the way the voice is produced and monitored. Evaluation of auditory processing using the Frequency Following Response (FFR) allows fine-grained neural processing to...

Purpose: To verify the association between laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) with age, gender, vocal deviation and voice complaints. Methods: The study included patients between 18 and 70 years old, referred to the Otorhinolaryngology service for complaints of voice or reflux, of both sexes. Endolaryngeal findings were classified using the Reflux Fin...

Objective: To investigate the psychometric properties of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) questionnaire in Brazilian Portuguese by assessing its reliability and conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Methods: This research was carried out in two stages: (1) a document-based retrospective ap...

Introduction: Individuals with spinal cord injuries may present comorbidities that can affect the quality of life and the voice production. Objectives: To evaluate the quality of life, respiratory function and voice in patients with traumatic cervical spinal cord injuries. Methods: This research was approved by the Ethics Committee, under number...

Introdução: Indivíduos com lesão medular podem apresentar comorbidades que podem afetar a qualidade de vida, a função respiratória e a produção da voz. Objetivos: Avaliar a qualidade de vida, função respiratória e voz em pacientes com lesão medular cervical traumática. Métodos: Esta pesquisa foi aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética sob o número 89112618...

Objective To verify the relationship between self-regulation and voice behavior according to national and international literature. Methods A literature survey was performed using the PubMed, LILACS, and SciELO databases. The search terms used were the following: self-regulation, self-control, combined with voice, voice disorders, and dysphonia, i...

INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the new pandemic, COVID-19 health services have had to face a new scenario. Voice therapy faces a double challenge, interventions using telepractice, and delivering rehabilitation services to a growing population of patients at risk of functional impairment related to the COVID-19 disease. Moreover, as COVID-19 i...

Objective To analyze the variations that different voice sample length (VSL) has on the perceived degree of voice quality deviation and on the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) accuracy. Methods Voices of 71 subjects (53 dysphonic; 18 vocally health) were recorded: numbers 1–20 (42 syllables) + vowel/a/. Three different VSL were edited: VSL_long...

The goal of this study is to compare and combine different acoustic features in discriminating subjects with and without voice disorders. A database of 484 adult patients participated in the research. All subjects recorded a sustained vowel /Ɛ/ and underwent a laryngoscopic examination of the larynx. From the results of the laryngeal examination pe...

Objetivo: Avaliar a habilidade de identificação de vozes normais e alteradas por indivíduos afinados e desafinados, comparando seu desempenho nos testes de processamento auditivo e na avaliação perceptivo-auditiva. Método: Participaram 15 indivíduos afinados e 15 desafinados pareados quanto à idade e sexo, oriundos de um coral amador, com limiares...

Introduction The Consensus Auditory Perceptual Evaluation of Voice (CAPE-V) scale is a modern, clinical-scientific approach to voice analysis. It has been translated and culturally adapted to Brazilian Portuguese, but it still lacks validation. Objective To validate the Brazilian Portuguese version of the CAPE-V scale using the previously translat...

INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the new pandemic, COVID-19 health services have had to face a new scenario. Voice therapy faces a double challenge, interventions using telepractice, and delivering rehabilitation services to a growing population of patients at risk of functional impairment related to the COVID-19 disease. Moreover, as COVID-19 i...

INTRODUCTION Since the beginning of the new pandemic, COVID-19 health services have had to face a new scenario. Voice therapy faces a double challenge, interventions using telepractice, and delivering rehabilitation services to a growing population of patients at risk of functional impairment related to the COVID-19 disease. Moreover, as COVID-19 i...

Objective To evaluate the Acoustic Voice Quality Index (AVQI) and its isolated acoustic measures accuracy in discriminating voices with different degrees of deviation. Methods Two hundred and fifty-eight voice samples (160 dysphonic; 98 vocally healthy). Information regarding acoustic analysis and overall degree of deviation (G) were considered. T...

Objetivo: Analisar e relacionar a percepção dos sintomas vocais, o conhecimento de saúde e higiene vocal em cantores populares e eruditos. Método: Participaram da pesquisa 186 cantores de ambos os sexos, na faixa etária de 17 a 60 anos, divididos em: Grupo Cantores Populares (GCP) - 104 cantores populares; Grupo Cantores Eruditos (GCE) - 82 cantor...

Objectives To complete the validation and to study the psychometric properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the Vocal Fatigue Index (IFV). Material and methods This is a validation study of a diagnostic instrument utilizing a cross-sectional design and phases with quasi-experimental design. The total sample was composed of 212 participan...

Objetivo investigar a influência da timidez autorreferida na desvantagem vocal percebida, de acordo com a presença ou ausência de queixa vocal, em profissionais da voz. Métodos duzentos e oito profissionais da voz (média de 36 anos, desvio padrão: 11,5), entre cantores, atores, advogados, locutores, telejornalistas, palestrantes, professores e ven...

Objective To compare vocal symptoms and self-regulatory behaviors between Chileans having behavioral dysphonia and those who were vocally healthy; and to correlate their vocal symptoms and self-regulatory behaviors. Material and methods The 100 Chileans who participated in this study were divided into the dysphonic group (DG) having behavioral dys...

Objective To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Cough Severity Index to Brazilian Portuguese. Material and methods This is a study with observational, cross-sectional, and analytical design. The procedure for translation and cross-cultural adaptation followed the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Medical Outcomes Tr...

Objective This study aims to translate and cross-culturally adapt the throat scale of the Voice Handicap Index to the Brazilian Portuguese language.uracy. Material and Methods This was performed in five phases translation, synthesis, back translation, review, and pretest. Fifty subjects participated in the pretest, of which 22 participants had chr...

Objectives: To verify the relationships between voice, behavior, and social skills in children and adolescents with and without voice disorders based on their self-reports and their parents/guardians' reports. Methods: The study comprised 575 individuals, with 347 parents/guardians of children and adolescents aged 6-18 years who responded the pa...

Purpose: To identify the parameters that influences the decision of singing teachers to seek speech-language pathology (SLP) assistance for their students. Methods: The study sample comprised 48 popular-music singing teachers, male and female, aged 37.96 years on average. The participants responded to a 10 closed-question questionnaire prepared...

Purpose: To investigate the immediate effect of phonation into silicone tube on self-assessment and vocal quality of gospel singers. Methods: The sample was composed of 40 gospel singers without vocal complaint, males and females, from 18 to 40 years. The singers performed semi-occluded vocal tract exercise in LaxVox® silicone tube. The end of t...

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the risk factors associated with the incidence of common mental disorders (CMD) in teachers, particularly the possible relationship with voice disorders. Material and methods: A longitudinal quantitative study of 469 teachers of the municipal schools of Pelotas in Brazil was conducted over three years after...

Objectives: To elaborate reduced versions of the Pediatric Vocal Symptoms Questionnaire (PVSQ) protocol for the two forms of application of the instrument: self-evaluation (SE) and parental evaluation (PE). Methods: The Brazilian validation database of the PVSQ was used (Zip code: 758,309). Data were collected from 716 people, comprising 367 chi...