Associations Between Autonomic Nervous System Function, Voice, and Dysphonia: A Systematic Review

Objective: The study aimed to verify the relation between autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunctions, voice, and dysphonia.

Study Design: The study is a systematic review.

Methods: According to the PRISMA flowchart, a search on Pubmed/Medline, SciELO, RCAAP, LILACS, Cochrane Library, PEDro, and Isi Web of Knowledge was performed up to April 2019 using the following key words: autonomic nervous system and voice or dysphonia. Inclusion criteria were full-text articles published in French, English, Portuguese, or Spanish, exploring the relationship between ANS and voice or dysphonia, in human adults. Exclusion criteria were additional treatments for voice disorders, literature reviews and meta-analysis, case studies, and opinion articles. All studies were analyzed using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale.

Results: Nine papers met the inclusion criteria, all with high methodological quality. The review shows that ANS is related to voice and dysphonia. Individuals with dysphonia tend to show more symptoms of ANS dysfunction concurrent with laryngeal muscles activation and that heartbeat modulates the F0 of human voice.

Conclusion: Changes in ANS function are associated with voice as well as with dysphonia.