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Welcome
Welcome We are glad you have chosen to visit us at Performance Voice Solutions. When you schedule your first appointment with Performance Voice Solutions, an introductory packet of information will be mailed to you. This includes a welcome letter, a case history questionnaire, a patient information sheet for Northside ENT, a financial policy statement, Northside ENT Inc. Notice of Privacy Practices, a privacy notice, and a map with directions to our location. Arrive approximately 15 minutes early to your appointment to register with the receptionist.
Medical History In the Case History Questionnaire, you have the opportunity to share details of the current problem as well as a detailed medical history. All of this is important to your clinician and assists in the diagnostic process. Case histories were designed specifically to address the needs of daily voice use for the professional and non-professional voice user, the professional singer and for breathing difficulties such as VCD or chronic cough. Some patients will be asked to complete the Voice Handicap Index or the Reflux Symptom Index, and some may be asked to complete both. This not only provides excellent pre-therapeutic information with which to compare progress following therapy, it offers an excellent marker of how your voice is behaving.
The Voice Examination Every voice is different, and the clinician will use his or her best judgment as to the type of evaluation each patient’s voice disorder requires. Generally, both an acoustic evaluation of your voice and a videostroboscopic evaluation of your voice will be performed. The tasks may vary depending on the data that is required for an accurate evaluation. The acoustic evaluation offers the clinician important information that helps to quantify vocal qualities such as pitch and roughness. The speech pathologist/voice specialist will guide you through a set of simple voice tasks using a microphone. Computer analysis will then be completed. Using videostroboscopy, the speech pathologist/voice specialist will insert a small endoscope either through your mouth or through your nose to your throat, where your larynx can be visualized. They will guide you through various voice tasks in order to view possible irregularities of movement and to assess the health of your laryngeal tissue. Following this examination, the speech pathologist/voice specialist will assess your recording using the Reflux Finding Score. This instrument, along with the Reflux Symptom Index, are the screening tools used to assess possible changes in your throat consistent with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux.
Frequently Asked Questions How long will this take? Typically, a full examination is completed in approximately 60 minutes.
How soon will I know my results? Immediately! In fact, our patients are invited to review the videostroboscopic recording with the clinician to discuss the findings immediately following the exam. If results indicate the need for a medical, surgical or behavioral (voice therapy) response, the clinician will inform you of this, and your physician will be contacted with these recommendations.
How do I need to prepare? No preparation is required. You may follow your normal routine for meals and medication the day of your examination. Your physician may have sent a script with you to bring to this examination. If so, please remember to place this in the packet of materials PVS mailed to you, and bring them in together.
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