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CC BY 4.0 · Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2025; 29(04): s00451811696
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1811696
Original Research

Study of the Impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Vocal Function

Autoren

  • Omnia Zakaria Elshebl 

    1   Department of Phoniatrics and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

  • Asmaa Eldesouky Mohamed

    2   Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

  • Salwa Ahmed Abdelhay Ahmed

    1   Department of Phoniatrics and Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

Funding The authors declare that they did not receive funding from agencies in the public, private, or non-profit sectors to conduct the present study.
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Abstract

Introduction

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects lung function, but its impact on vocal function remains understudied.

Objective

To investigate the relationship involving COPD severity and vocal acoustic parameters and to assess the correlations regarding acoustic measures and pulmonary function tests in clinically stable COPD patients.

Methods

The present observational study included 40 COPD patients diagnosed according to the 2023 guidelines of the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD). All patients underwent spirometry, an otorhinolaryngological examination, and acoustic voice analysis, including fundamental frequency (F0), harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR), jitter, and shimmer. The Arabic version of the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) questionnaire was used to assess voice-related impairment.

Results

The sample had a mean age of 65 ± 6 years, with 92.5% of male subjects. Dysphonia was observed in 57.5% of the patients. Laryngoscopic findings included Reinke's edema (42.5%), laryngitis (25%), polypoid degeneration (20%), and phonasthenia (12.5%). The acoustic analysis revealed significant negative correlations involving pulmonary function parameters and vocal measures. The regression analysis demonstrated forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) as significant predictors of mean pitch, jitter, and shimmer, with each unit increase in FEV1 associated with a decrease in these acoustic measures (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The severity of COPD is significantly associated with acoustic voice alterations, with disease progression leading to measurable impairments in vocal function. These findings highlight the importance of voice assessment in COPD management.

Keywords

COPD - voice quality - pulmonary function - acoustic analysis - GOLD classification

Authors' Contributions

OE: conceptulization, methodology, and suprvision; AE: data curation, formal analysis, and software; SA : writing original draft, writing review, and editing.


Data Availability Statement

Data supporting the results of this study are available upon a reasonable request from the corresponding author.


Supplementary Material



Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 21. Juli 2025

Angenommen: 16. August 2025

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
11. November 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Omnia Zakaria Elshebl, Asmaa Eldesouky Mohamed, Salwa Ahmed Abdelhay Ahmed. Study of the Impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Vocal Function. Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2025; 29: s00451811696.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1811696