Voice Quality in Parkinson’s Disease in the Croatian Language Speakers

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is well known to cause voice impairments. The aim of this study is to evaluate subjective and objective changes in voice quality in patients with PD in Croatian language speakers. Twenty one patients (11 male and 10 female) with PD and twenty one age-matched (10 male and 11 female) of the control group were assessed. Voice impairment was scored according to Voice Handicap Index (VHI). Patient’s perceptual voice analysis was assessed usinng GRBAS scale including Grade of Dysphonia, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia and Strain items. The analysed objective voice parametars were: fundamental frequency, highest frequency, lowest frequency, voice range, jitter, shimmer, maximum phonation time and s/z ratio. In all patients we performed videolaryngostroboscopic examination. Compared with the control group we found the significant diferences in VHI, in GRBAS scale (p