The effect of nasal septum deviation on voice aging.

PURPOSE: The aging process of the voice differs among individuals, and the factors that affect age-related changes in voice are not well-defined. In this study, we investigated the difference between older people with nasal septum deviation (NSD) and older people without NSD in terms of degree of aging voice using objective and subjective voice assessment tools.

METHODS

The study included 94 patients (47 women, 47 men) aged >65 years. Nasal septum deviation was determined in 45 patients (NSD group), and 49 patients had no nasal pathology (control group). Maximum phonation time (MPT), GRBAS scale, and acoustic voice analysis parameters were compared between the NSD and control groups; sub-group analysis disaggregated by sex was also performed.

RESULTS

No significant difference was observed between the NSD and control groups with respect to MPT, GRBAS scale, and acoustic voice analysis parameters in the total study population and among male subjects. The only parameter that showed a significant difference between sub-groups of female subjects was soft phonation index (SPI) (p=.03).

CONCLUSIONS

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the effect of NSD on the voice aging. With the findings of the present study, NSD does not seem to have an effect on voice aging, and also it can be suggested that septoplasty will not have an effect on preventing presbyphonia. Further studies on larger groups of patients are required to provide more definitive evidence on this subject.