Auditory-perceptual evaluation of voice: comparing different speech tasks to identify children with and without laryngeal lesions

PURPOSE: To compare the vowel emission and number counting tasks in perceptual-auditory differentiation among children with and without laryngeal lesions. METHODS: Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional methods were used. Medical records of 44 children were selected from a database of an otorhinolaryngology service at a University Hospital and they were divided into groups: without laryngeal lesion (WOLL), and with laryngeal lesion (WLL), with 33 and 11 children. For the auditory-perceptual evaluation, the vocal samples were separated according to the type of task. They were analyzed separately by a judge who analyzed the general degree of vocal deviation and assessed whether the child would pass or fail in the face of a screening situation. RESULTS: There was a difference between the WOLL and WLL groups in terms of the overall degree of vocal deviation for the task of number counting, with a predominance of mild deviations in WOLL and moderate in WLL. In the screening, there was a difference between the groups during the number counting task, with more failures in the WLL. The groups were similar in the sustained vowel task, both in terms of the overall degree of vocal deviation and the vocal screening. Most children in the WLL failed in both tasks during vocal screening compared to the children in the WOLL who, in general, failed in only one task. CONCLUSION: The task of number counting contributes to the auditory differentiation in children with and without laryngeal lesion, by identifying deviations of greater intensity in children with laryngeal lesion.