Voice- and Health-Related Quality of Life in the Elderly

Objective Restrictions of verbal communication and high prevalence of voice disorders in the elderly are suspected to influence the quality of life. For assessment, both voice-specific and unspecific methods are already established and fundamental components of clinical diagnostics, but the question of correlation between voice-related and general health-related quality of life is still open in this subpopulation. Methods One hundred and seven socially active persons aged 65+ years were recruited and asked to complete Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) and Short Form (SF)-36 questionnaires. Results There was a mild correlation between V-RQOL score and both of the SF-36 subscores (rsآ =آ 0.28 for the physical subscore and rsآ =آ 0.27 for the mental subscore). Conclusion As correlation of voice- and health-related quality of life in elderly persons is only mild, both voice-specific and unspecific assessment methods are required for clinical diagnostics.