The Contribution of Videokymography to Phoniatric and Laryngologic Practice

Videokymography (VKG) was introduced into clinical practice in Medical Healthcom Prague in 1996. Since that time it has become an indispensable supplemental diagnostic method to strobovideolaryngoscopy. The total of 3953 examinations have been carried out here using the combination of the two methods. The laryngoscopic images allow evaluation of the vocal folds during respiration and reveal organic pathology. Stroboscopic images allow qualitative evaluation of the vocal fold vibration and the glottal closure and reveal organic and functional disorders in an early stage. VKG supplements these pieces of information by revealing the detailed dynamics of the vocal fold oscillations, which is depicted within a single image. The method enables an objective documentation of the vocal fold vibration in hoarse voices as well as during fast laryngeal events in which stroboscopy fails. It allows discovering subtle functional and early organic changes at specific places of the vocal folds. The combination of the strobovideolaryngoscopy and VKG enables an early diagnostics of functional and organic voice disorders, accurate documentation of the findings and evaluation of the changes as a result of therapy. It can be applied also in studying substitute phonational mechanisms or in examining creation of tone in brass instrument playing. Apart from its clinical value, the method has been helpful in experimental voice research and in development of voice prostheses. The presentation summarizes the authors' experience with VKG and outlines the possibilities of the method in future