Background and rationale {6a}
dysphagia, Radiation-associated dysphagia, RAD, impaired swallowing safety/efficiency, throat, HNC, cough, glottis, Cough
DYSPHAGIA
Radiation-associated dysphagia (RAD) is impaired swallowing safety/efficiency following (chemo)radiotherapy [Cough is a sensorimotor behaviour defined as a deep inspiration followed by closure of the glottis, forced expiratory effort and then opening of the glottis with expiration [In HNC patients with RAD, the elicited cough is often ineffective, intermittently ineffective or absent following (C)RT [In daily clinical practice, the established cough assessment is based on a perceptual auditory assessment of voluntary coughs, voluntary throat clearings and/or reflexive coughs [In research, cough is objectively measured by collecting airflow measures using a facemask or pipe coupled to a filter and connected to a digital spirometer [To our knowledge, no objective acoustic features of coughing and throat clearing have been reported to be relevant to dysphagia. Novel methods enabling the detection of acoustic cough features that could be suitable for clinical assessment in a natural setting (e.g. bedside) are thought to add value to daily clinical practice regarding patients with RAD.Another frequent aspect of the clinical diagnostic examination of swallowing is the perceptual assessment of voice quality immediately following deglutition [The exploration of specific acoustic voice features as predictors of the P/A risk in HNC patients with RAD could be a reliable and easily implementable complementary method of the cough assessment during a clinical swallowing evaluation. The combination of acoustic voice and cough features is expected to enhance the accuracy of P/A prediction. Indeed, some studies have reported that considering the cough assessment individually reduces the reliability of P/A prediction [