Clinical characteristics of singers attending a phoniatric outpatient clinic in France

Résumé En

Studies suggest that singers are over-represented in voice clinics and present a high risk of developing voice disorders. This retrospective study aims to describe the characteristics of 78 singers consulting a phoniatrician. In their medical files, data related to age, gender, occupational status, singing training, musical style, voice complaint, diagnosis, voice-quality grading (GRBAS) and treatment were gathered. The patients were mostly female singers (87%). Non-professional singers (semi-professional included) represented 64%, professional singers 25% and students of singing 11%. The majority of singers were choristers (27%) and 22% were classical-style /oratorio-style singers. Two-thirds of the population had intensive vocal activity in speech or singing. Vocal endurance, somatosensory signs and difficulties with high pitches were the most frequent symptoms. Among the patients, 79% presented with singing-voice disorders with 85% of these having vocal fold lesions. Generally, their speaking voices were preserved. Vocal-folds nodules were the most prevalent pathology (37 %) followed by sulcus (26%) and voice therapy was the main treatment. This study emphasizes the fact that singers have specific voice complaints related to their voice usage. The high occurrence of sulcus and other congenital-lesion suspicions, unusual in the general population consulting an ENT phoniatrician, seems to be rather specific for singers in agreement with the literature.