Comparison voice handicap index (VHI) in patients with vocal mass lesions in larynx and healthy people

The voice is an important verbal communication in voice problems. In addition to physical problems, pay attention to communication, emotional and mental health in our life and work is very important. The aim of this study is to assess and compare of voice handicap index (VHI) in patients with vocal mass lesion and healthy people.
This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study. Participants were divided into two groups, patients with mass lesion (n=40) and healthy people group (n=40). Basic information was collected by interview. Voice handicap index (VHI) questionnaire was assessed. The data was analyzed with SPSS16 (IBM corporation) software. In order to compare the two groups, the independent sample T-test was used.
Patients with vocal mass lesion had high scores in total and three subscales (physical, emotional and functional) VHI than healthy people and there was a significant differences between two groups in all variables (p˂0.05).
The results of this study indicate that patients with mass lesion in larynx have higher and significant VHI scales than healthy people, which presents less voice related quality of life. Therefore, patients with voice disorder should pay attention to the psychological aspects in addition to medical and surgical treatments.