Does a “wet” voice really mean your patient is aspirating?

In this episode, Eva and Emily unpack research that challenges one of the most common clinical signs used in dysphagia assessment, wet vocal quality. Turns out, what we’ve been trained to hear might not be as reliable as we think.

The need for instrumentals hasn't gone away, but the biggest national providers of mobile FEEs has...So what happens when we know we can’t solely rely on bedside exams and access to gold standard tools is limited?

Let's talk about it.

Citations:

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Skilled nursing facility consolidated billing. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/skilled-nursing-facility-snf-consolidated-billing

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (2023). The case for FEES in skilled nursing facilities. https://leader.pubs.asha.org/do/10.1044/leader.OTP.28072023.fees-snf-slp.36/full/

Weldon, K., Kelchner, L., Silbert, N., & Rule, D. W. (2023). Listening for dysphagia: Voice quality sequelae of material in the airway. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-0012

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