Reliability of laryngo-stroboscopic evaluation based on visual perceptual judgment

Abstract

This study investigated the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of visual perceptual evaluation of laryngo-stroboscopic images. Two hundreds and fifty-five laryngo-stroboscopic videos samples were collected from 75 subjects. Three raters undertook evaluation of the images on 4measurements: 1) mass lesion size, 2) amplitude of vocal fold vibration, 3) supraglottic activity, and 4) shape of the glottal closure, using the modified Stroboscopy Examination Rating Form (Poburka, 1999). Results showed that substantial inter-rater and intra-rater reliability were achieved for lesion size, antero-posterior supraglottic activity and glottal closure. However, evaluation of medio-lateral supraglottic activity and the amplitude of vocal fold vibration could not achieve an adequate reliability (ranged from 0.45-0.50). The finding indicated that laryngo-stroboscopic examination is a relatively reliable method for the measurement of lesion size, antero-posterior supraglottic compression and glottal closure. This finding is better than those reported in the literature (Nawka & Konerding, 2012). Meanwhile, the vocal fold vibratory amplitude measure was found to be the least reliable.