Voice disorders can handicap old and young population. There are many different causes that should be considered with this disorder and they are presented in the first part of the theoretical basis. The appearance of a voice, causes for hoarseness and how to evaluate and identify voice disorders are also described. The course of swallowing, participating organs, most common eating disorders and the assessment of eating disorders are of key importance for the research, so they are presented thoroughly. Master's thesis is focused on voice disorders among elderly people, especially in connection with eating disorders. Therefore, in the second part of the theoretical basis, the frequency of voice and eating disorders are presented.
The aim of this study is to find out the incidence of voice disorders among elderly people living in a retirement home and to determine if there is a link between voice disorders and other potential upper aero-digestive tract disorders (swallowing disorders), and other illnesses of elderly people.
In the empirical part, 50 elderly people from the retirement home were questioned using an accustomed survey (Voice Handicap Index 10 (VHI-10)) and the data about their feelings of voice impairment were therefore collected. For evaluation of swallowing disorders, the Eating Assessment Tool 10 (EAT-10) was used. A connection between swallowing disorders and hoarseness was also tested. The data about other factors that might influence the quality of voice were also collected with a customized survey in which they were questioned about presence of respiratory tract disorders, impaired vocal tract, hearing, speech apparatus and resonant organs disorders. During questionnaire their spontaneous speech was assessed using GIRBAS scale. We also assessed the quality and suitability of voice pitch and loudness. The maximum phonation time of the vowel /i/ was measured and proportion between phonation time of resonant consonant /s/ and unresonant consonant /z/ was calculated. All the possible factors, that can cause voice disorders among elderly people in a retirement home were sought.
To determine the prevalence of voice disorders and organs systems diseases among elderly people in a retirement home, descriptive statistics was used and the data were presented in tables and with graphs. For other data analysis t-test, Mann Whitney U test and Chi square test were used. It was found out, that voice disorders are very common among elderly people in a retirement home, but they are not aware of them and their voice does not cause any handicap in their lives. No links between swallowing and voice disorders and between neurological impairments and voice disorders were found in this study. The elderly people are uncritical to their voice and the severity of the problems of organic system diseases, while the clinical assessment of the voice by the interviewer has yielded significantly lower results regarding the voice quality.
On the basis of the obtained results, the concluding part of the master's thesis emphasizes the importance of awareness of our own voice, voice disorders and the impact of the voice on life of elderly people in a retirement home. It also emphasized the importance of the speech therapist profession at a retirement home.
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