Vinay V Rao¹, Rajneesh S Khelgikar²,Vishak S³, Mahesh Bhat T⁴, Preeti Shetti⁵, Jacqueline B Fernandes⁶

¹Associate Professor, ^2,3Assistant Professor, ⁴Professor,⁵Postgraduate Student, Department of E N T, Father Muller Medical College, Kankanady, Managalore,6Assistant Professor, Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Father Muller Medical College, Kankanady, Managalore, India.

Address for correspondence: Dr Vinay V Rao, Associate Professor,Department of E N T, Father Muller Medical College and Hospital, Kankanady, Mangalore ,India.

Email: drvinayvrao@gmail.com

Introduction: Adenoidectomy with or without tonsillectomy is a common procedure performed by otolaryngologist in children. Most children between the ages 4 to 12 years have a relative hypertrophy of the lymphoid tissue in pharynx, including both tonsil and adenoid. This enlargement can cause obstructive symptoms of varying degree and several aspects of the speech spectrum such as resonance and articulation are reported to be negatively affected. Change in voice after surgery is often a cause of concern among patients and parents, more so among those who use their voices in a professional capacity. The purposes of the study were to assess the pre and post operatively changes in nasal resonance following adenoidectomy in children.

Materials and Methods The children between 4 to 12 years suffering from chronic adenoiditis, who underwent adenoidectomy at Father Muller Medical College Hospital, Mangalore from November 2015 to June 2016 were included in the study. The children were subjected to detailed ear, nose and throat examination, X- ray of nasopharynx, diagnostic nasal endoscopy and nasometry before adenoidectomy surgery and compared with 3 weeks after surgery.

Results : A total of 60 patients were enrolled, out of these 21 were male and 39 were female. The maximum patients were seen in the 7 to 9 age group and majority of the patients were noted to have Grade III tonsils (46.60%) at the time of surgery. The mean preoperative nasalance score was 47.30 percent which decreased to 16.85 percent postoperatively, showed significance (p=0.000).

Conclusion : Adenoidectomy can alter the acoustic characteristics of the vocal tract and causes alterations in the nasality.Therefore, surgeon can reassure patients, especially voice professionals.

Keywords : Adenoidectomy, Nasal resonance, Nasometry, Hypernasality, Hyponasality