Clinical characteristics of singers attending a phoniatric outpatient clinic

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Purpose: Studies suggest that singers are over-represented in voice clinics and present a high risk ofdeveloping voice disorders. This retrospective study aims to describe the characteristics of 78 singersconsulting a phoniatrician.Methods: 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.Results: The patients were mostly female singers (87%). Non-professional singers (semi-professionalincluded) represented 64%, professional singers 25% and students of singing 11%. The majority ofsingers were choristers (27%) and 22% were classical-style/oratorio-style singers. Two-thirds of thepopulation had intensive vocal activity in speech or singing. Vocal endurance, somatosensory signsand difficulties with high pitches were the most frequent symptoms. Among the patients, 79% presentedwith singing-voice disorders with 85% of these having vocal fold lesions. Generally, their speakingvoices were preserved. Vocal-folds nodules were the most prevalent pathology (37%) followed bysulcus (26%) and voice therapy was the main treatment.Conclusions: This study emphasizes the fact that singers have specific voice complaints related totheir voice usage. The high occurrence of sulcus and other congenital-lesion suspicions, unusual in thegeneral population consulting an ENT phoniatrician, seems to be rather specific for singers in agreementwith the literature.