Determining Cutoff Point in Bahasa Malaysia Version of Voice Handicap Index-10 (mVHI-10).

OBJECTIVE: Determining the cutoff point on Bahasa Malaysia version of Voice Handicap Index (mVHI-10) questionnaire scores for distinguishing between dysphonic and normal voice samples.

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the tertiary hospital, Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck clinic.

METHODS: The study involved 205 subjects (105 in the dysphonia group; 100 in the normal group) with a complete database of flexible laryngoscopy/stroboscopy, voice recording, acoustic analysis, and mVHI-10 score. A sample with a discrepancy between subjective evaluation and acoustic analysis results was excluded from the study. Each classified dataset matched with the respective mVHI-10 questionnaire score. Finally, all the collected data were subjected to data analysis.

RESULTS: The best cutoff point for mVHI-10 was 7.5 by the receiver operating characteristic curve, with an area under the curve value of 0.997. Its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 92.4%, 100.0%, 100.0%, and 93.0%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: The best cutoff point for mVHI-10 is 7.5, as determined by stringent data evaluation and rigorous statistical analysis. With excellent diagnostic accuracy properties, it enhances the usage of the mVHI-10 questionnaire as an excellent screening tool. Nevertheless, we advocate multidimensional voice assessment for diagnostic purposes.