The Swedish version of the Voice Handicap Index adapted for singers

Abstract

This study evaluates a Swedish version of the Voice Handicap Index adapted for singers. A total of 96 healthy singers and 30 singer-patients completed the questionnaire. Validity and reliability, internal coherence, and group differences were assessed. The singer-patient group had significantly higher scores than the control group. Reliability was confirmed by high Cronbach's (>0.78) for test-retest scores, and for each of the sub-scales. Test-retest stability in both groups was confirmed by high correlation values alpha (>0.8). Overall scores compared closely to those from previous reports. The Swedish translation of the adapted VHI for singers (RHI-s) is valid and reliable and shows sensitivity to the singer's concerns. It can be considered a useful tool in the clinical assessment of Swedish healthy or pathological singers.

Key words::

• Reliability
• self-perception
• singers
• singing genre
• singing levels
• Swedish
• validity
• voice disorders
• voice handicap index

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr Jacobson for her kind permission to rework and adapt the original VHI, and Dominique Morsomme for agreeing to the translation of the Belgian version of the VHI for singers. Christian Surbled and Lars Cederwall were instrumental in the translation into Swedish of the French adapted VHI for singers. The authors also wish to thank the speech language pathologists Helena Olsson and Anna Stenlund Tyrén, and laryngologists Roland Rydell, Stellan Hertegård, and Staffan Wilén, all of whom helped with patient recruitment. We also extend warm appreciation to the conductors of several different Swedish choirs for sharing their precious rehearsal time to allow for RHI-s test and retest.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Notes

Most consulted reports seem to show a preference for Spearman's rho; for the sake of comparison, this correlation is also provided in parentheses.