Longitudinal Assessment of Singing Students.

INTRODUCTION: Singers have unique vocal demands, and if the voice is impaired there can be a negative impact on their quality of life. While a variety of options exist to assess vocal health, the utilization of cepstral peak prominence (CPP) has increased due to his reliability in some situations. However, it has not been utilized commonly in the singing population. This study sought to assess vocal health in singing students using noninvasive measures such as singing voice handicap index (SVHI) and consensus auditory perceptual evaluation of voice (CAPE-V) as well as CPP to provide preliminary information on this measure. METHODS: A prospective longitudinal study of singing students independent of year of training enrolled in a 2-credit voice lesson at an undergraduate School of Music was conducted. Non-invasive measures were used to evaluate the voice. All participants recorded the same spoken sentence at four equally spaced intervals throughout the semester using a ZOOM H4n Pro (two cardioid input microphone, Hauppauge, New Year). Participants completed SVHI at the time of each recording, and CAPE-V conducted by two speech language pathologists trained in voice. CPP was determined using running speech samples. RESULTS: A total of 23 singers completed the study (11 male, 12 female). There was a significant difference in SVHI at the first recording compared to the final recording (10.6 ± 4.6 vs 9.3 ± 5.9, P= 0.008). Similarly, there was a significant difference in CPP at the first recording compared to the final recording (9 ± 3 vs 9.4 ± 1.1, P < 0.001). However, no significant difference was seen with CAPE-V. CONCLUSION: Our results are similar to previous studies. There was no evidence in decline in objective and subjective vocal quality utilizing the measure included in our study.

The Lasting Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Surgical Key Indicator Cases for Otolaryngology Residency Education.

OBJECTIVES: Early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and other government as well as medical institutions recommended that surgeons postpone nonessential surgeries. The aim of our study is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on otolaryngology surgical training by evaluating changes in surgical volumes through various time points relative to the height of the pandemic. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of all surgical cases performed by the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery department at a tertiary care academic center from 3 time periods: July 1st, 2018, to June 30th, 2019; July 1st, 2019, to June 30th, 2020; and July 1st, 2020, to June 30th, 2021. RESULTS: From the 2018-19 period to the 2020-21 period, the total number of overall cases decreased by 9.9%, from 2386 to 2148 cases. During this same time duration, the number of key indicator cases decreased by 13.4%, from 1715 to 1486 cases. Relative to other cases, ethmoidectomy, rhinoplasty, and stapes/OCR cases decreased the most during the 2019-20 period by 41.9%, 41.8%, and 29.5%, respectively. From the 2018-19 period to the 2020-21 period, thyroid/parathyroid cases decreased the most by 35.4%. Only ethmoidectomy and oral cavity cases showed increases during this period at 9.7% and 24.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although case volumes have stayed relatively constant, key indicator case volumes at the present tertiary care academic center have not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts must be made to determine how this has impacted residency surgical education.