Adaptation and Validation of the Voice Symptom Scale into Kannada

The Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS) is a self-assessment tool that assesses vocal symptoms and measures the effect of dysphonia. Adapting VoiSS to Kannada can be beneficial in evaluating dysphonia-related symptoms, especially in the Kannada-speaking population. To adapt the VoiSS into Kannada and to assess the reliability, validity, and cut-off values of the VoiSS-K (VoiSS Kannada version). The study used a prospective non-randomised standard group comparison. Initially, the VoiSS was translated into Kannada. The VoiSS-K was administered to 76 participants (34 females and 42 males) with a mean age of 46.4 + 14.5 years having voice disorders. The VoiSS-K was also administered to 76 respondents having clinically normal voices who were age and gender-matched to the participants with voice disorders. Cronbach’s alpha was utilised to evaluate the internal consistency, and the intraclass correlation coefficient to evaluate the test-retest reliability. The findings indicated that the VoiSS-K had excellent test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The study group participants had significantly higher VoiSS-K scores than the control group participants. Thus, the outcomes indicated that the VoiSS-K had good discriminant validity. ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curve analysis was conducted, and the cut-off score of VoiSS-K was 40.50. As the VoiSS-K is a rigorous, robust, and detailed self-assessment questionnaire, it can be used as a clinically sensitive tool to evaluate voice symptoms in Kannada-speaking individuals.