Objectives.The purpose is to investigate effect of septoplasty and widened nasal patency on voice quality.Methods.Fifty patients who undergone septoplasty were included in the study. Thirty-three people who had similar age and distribution were enrolled as control group. Before and 1 and 3 months after surgery, anterior rhinomanometry, voice analysis by Multi-Dimensional Voice Program, and spectrographic analysis were performed to patients. The recordings of /a/ vowel were used to evaluate average fundamental frequency (F0), jitter percent, and shimmer percent. In spectrographic analyses, F3–F4 values for the vowels /i, e, a, o, and u/, nasal formant frequencies of the consonants /m/ and /n/ in the word /mini/, and 4 formant frequencies (F1, F2, F3, and F4) for nasalized /i/ vowel following a nasal consonant /n/ in the word /mini/ were compared. The differences in nasal resonance were evaluated. All patients were asked whether change in their voices after the surgery. Preoperative and postoperative voice parameters and anterior rhinomanometry results were compared separately with the control group as well as in the patient group itself.Results.Preoperative total nasal resistance (TNR) values of patients were higher than the control group (P=0.001). TNR values of patients measured one day before surgery and after surgery in the 1st and 3rd months were different and these differences were significant statistically (P=0.001). There was no significant difference between the voice analysis parameters in preoperative, postoperative 1st, and 3rd months. As a result of their subjective reviews, 12 patients (36%) noted their voices were better than before surgery and 20 patients (61%) noted no change before and after surgery.Conclusion.Providing widened nasal cavity has no effect on voice quality.

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Purpose To assess the hearing function of patients with mild and moderate COVID-19. Methods The hospital staffs recovered from COVID-19 were included. The candidates who had an ear disease or progressive hearing loss prior to COVID-19, or having been hospitalised because of severe and critical COVID-19 were excluded. The age, sex, symptoms during COVID-19, and medications received for the disease were noted. The hearing thresholds (HT) of the participants who had an audiogram before having COVID-19 disease were recorded. A pure tone audiometry was conducted to all. The participants were classified into two groups; Group 1: participants who had an audiogram previously, Group 2: participants who didn’t have an audiogram previously. The changes of the HTs of the participants in Group 1 were analyzed. The HTs of the participants in Group 2 were documented without any comparison. The HTs of all participants were also analyzed by classifying them into subgroups according to their symptoms during, and medications received for COVID-19. Results Fifty-four males and 47 females (18–59 years) were included. The participants’ HTs in Group 1 ( n = 31) did not change significantly at any of the frequencies after having COVID-19 ( p > 0.05). The pure tone averages of the participants in Group 2 ( n = 70) were below 25 dB and none of the participants reported worsening of their hearing permanently. The differences between the HTs of none of the subgroups were statistically significant ( p > 0.05, p > 0.05). Conclusions Mild and moderate COVID-19 and its treatments did not affect the hearing function permanently.

Objectives:To evaluate the incidence of hypocalcemia and recurrent laryngeal nerve disfunction secondary to level VI lymph node dissection in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.Methods: This randomized prospective study investigated a group of 60 consecutive papillary thyroid carcinoma patients who initially underwent thyroidectomy plus level VI neck dissection (29 patients) -with or without lateral neck dissection -and thyroidectomy alone (31 patients). In order to evaluate the morbidity of central lymph node dissection, postoperative recurrent nerve dysfunction and hypocalcemia were compared between two groups.Results: Early postoperative hypocalcemia was higher in the thyroidectomy plus neck dissection group (group 1) than the thyroidectomy without neck dissection group (group 2) (18/29-62.1% vs. 6/31-19.4%; p=0.001). Permanent hypocalcemia developed in 4 patients of group 1 (4/29-13.8%) and 2 patients of group 2 (2/31-6.5%) six months after surgery (P=0.672). No permanent vocal cord paralysis was observed in both groups. Transient vocal cord paralysis occurred in a patient of group 1. Conclusions:According to the study results, central lymph node dissection can be safely applied in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients without increasing the risk of permanent morbidity in the hands of experienced surgeons.