Surgical intervention for patients with snoring and sleep apnea may change the voice acoustics and speech resonance. The
objectives of current research is to study the changes in the acoustic characteristics of the voice and speech of the patients after
surgical correction. This study included 52 adult patients (40 males and 12 females) with snoring and/or OSA syndrome. The patients
ranged in age from 22 to 57 years. The patients were classified into three groups. Patients in group 1 had retro-palatal obstruction
with redundant soft palate. Ten patients in this group also had large tonsils. Patients in group 2 presented with retro-palatal
obstruction and had redundant soft palate. However, group 3 patients had retro-lingual obstruction because of a large tongue base.
Group 1: 24 patients underwent uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP); Group 2: 16 patients underwent laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty
(LAUP) and Group 3: 12patients underwent tongue base suspension technique (TBS). The patients’ voices were subjected to acoustic
ANALYSIS 24(105), September - October, 2020
Medical Science
ISSN
2321–7359
EISSN
2321–7367
© 2020 Discovery Publication. All Rights Reserved. www.discoveryjournals.org OPEN ACCESS
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ANALYSIS ARTICLE
analysis and Nasometric evaluation preoperatively and three months postoperatively. The results showed Formant changes occurred
in patients subjected to TBS and no changes occurred in patients after UPPP and LAUP. We concluded that surgical intervention
(UPPP, LAUP, and TBS) in sleep apnea patients results in mild voice and speech changes in some patients detected only by acoustic
analysis of the patients’ voices.