earticle

영어

This study investigated the effect of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) on the loudness, pitch and quality of the voice of the males diagnosed with dysphagia by stroke. NMES was conducted on experimental group of 15 patients for 2 months repeatedly while compensatory strategies for dysphagia were performed on control group of 15 patients. Loudness, pitch (F₀) and quality (Jitter, Shimmer, NNE; Normalized Noise Energy) of the voice was measured by using acoustic-phonetic analysis. For statistical test, difference in voice change after the treatments was compared by using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). As the result of analysis, NMES and compensatory strategies had significant difference in intensity, jitter and shimmer (p<.05) while they did not in pitch and NNE. After the intervention of NMES, voice loudness of the subjects was enhanced and periodicity of vocal cord vibration (Jitter, Shimmer) was stabilized. The results of this study imply that NMES may have effect on enhancement of voice loudness and stabilization of periodicity of vocal cord vibration.