Vocal Health Assessment of Professional Performers Returning to the Stage After the COVID-19 Pandemic Shutdown.

Objectives/hypothesis: This study assessed the vocal health of performers returning to full-time performance after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and investigated how differences in voice usage, exposure to voice care professionals, and vocal pathology before and during the pandemic contributed to variability in self-perceived and instrumental vocal outcome measures.
Study Design: This was a prospective, case-control observational study conducted at a single outpatient site.
Methods: Twenty-two patients, 11 cases and 11 controls, were enrolled for the study. All participants were full-time singing professionals prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases were recruited from patients presenting to a tertiary care voice center for vocal or pharyngeal complaints. Controls were healthy volunteers recruited from the general population of professional singers in the surrounding metropolitan area. All participants provided responses to the Voice Handicap Index-10, Evaluation of Ability to Sing Easily, and Laryngopharyngeal Measure of Perceived Sensation validated questionnaires as well as a study survey with questions regarding vocal use and history prior to and during the pandemic. All participants underwent instrumental acoustic and videostroboscopic voice evaluations.
Results: Cases had poorer outcome measures overall and were more likely to report their voices were worse at study enrollment when compared to their prepandemic perception (P = 0.027). Cases tended to be older and less likely to have pursued alternative employment during the pandemic that involved increased speaking voice use (27% vs 55%), but these differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: There was a variable response among performers to the prolonged hiatus from performing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with poorer outcomes tended to be older and may have used their voice less during the pandemic. These findings are consistent with detraining periods in the exercise physiology literature and support the construct of treating vocal performers as vocal athletes.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors of this manuscript declare that they have no financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence or bias their work. We affirm that there are no conflicts of interest, including but not limited to employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, or any other financial or personal relationships that could potentially be perceived as affecting the integrity and impartiality of our research and its findings.
(Copyright © 2024 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)