Worried About Voice Change? Could Be A Sign Of COPD Flare-Up

If you have been experiencing a significant change in your voice – which has become hoarse, or heavier than usual, it could be a sign of a flared-up Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD, a new study has claimed. According to scientists from Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, patients’ voices become higher-pitched and more breathy when a flare-up is imminent.

Researchers said taking that into account, they are now working on a smartphone app that could help people prepare for an exacerbation of their COPD – a deadly lung condition that makes it hard to breathe and is caused by damage to the lungs and airways. “If we are able to do this, it would pave the way for early detection and diagnosis of exacerbations in the home environment,” Dr. Loes can Bemmel, a researcher in respiratory medicine with Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands wrote in the paper. “This would enable patients to manage these events themselves at home,” he added.

COPD includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis – which prevent airflow to the lungs, causing Loss of elasticity in your airways, inflammation, scarring, formation of thick mucus in your airways, wheezing, and cough. You might need to go to the hospital for severe exacerbations.

For the research, the findings of which have been presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) annual meeting in Vienna, scientists enrolled 28 COPD patients and recorded their voices using a smartphone app every day for 12 weeks. They recorded saying “aah” for as long as they could manage in one breath, and then read either a short paragraph from a story or answered a question. The participants also completed a daily questionnaire regarding their symptoms - including 16 times when a patient had experienced a flare-up.

They found patients’ voices became higher on the verge of a flare-up and more jitters. “There were clear differences between patients’ recordings on a normal day and on the first day of an exacerbation,” van Bemmel said. “This confirmed our hypothesis that speech changes significantly, even at the very beginning of an exacerbation.”

According to experts, damage to your lungs from smoking is the most common cause of COPD, and others include:

• Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency which is a genetic disorder that leads to lung damage
• Secondhand smoke
• Air pollution
• Exposure to dust and fumes from your job or hobbies

Doctors say women are more prone to COPD and other respiratory issues.

Experts say COPD traps bacteria in your lungs that cause infections. It also prevents oxygen from getting into your body and carbon dioxide from getting out – leading to serious complications, including:

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