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Creation and Validation of the Singing Voice Handicap Index

2007; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 116; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/000348940711600602

1943-572X

Seth M. Cohen, Barbara H. Jacobson, C. Gaelyn Garrett, J. Pieter Noordzij, Michael G. Stewart, Albert Attia, Robert H. Ossoff, Thomas F. Cleveland,

Musicians’ Health and Performance

We developed and validated a disorder-specific health status instrument (Singing Voice Handicap Index; SVHI) for use in patients with singing problems.Prospective instrument validation was performed. Of 81 original items, those with poor statistical validity were eliminated, resulting in 36 items. The ability to discriminate dysphonic from normal singers, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity were assessed.We included 112 dysphonic and 129 normal singers, professional and nonprofessional, of classical, country, rock, choral, and gospel repertoire. Dysphonic singers had worse SVHI scores than normal singers (p < or = .001, rank sum test). Test-retest reliability was high (Spearman correlation, 0.92; p < or = .001). Internal consistency demonstrated a Cronbach's alpha of .97, and the correlation between the SVHI and self-rated singing voice impairment was .63 (p < or = .001, Spearman correlation).The SVHI is a reliable and valid tool for assessing self-perceived handicap associated with singing problems.