Citation: Mia´ skiewicz, B.; Gos, E.; D˛ ebi ´ nska, M.; Panasiewicz-Wosik, A.; Kapustka, D.; Nikiel, K.; Wlodarczyk, E.; Domeracka-Kolodziej, A.; Krasnod˛ ebska, P.; Szkielkowska, A. Polish Translation and Validation of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI-30). Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10738. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijerph191710738 Academic Editor: Peter Clifton Received: 4 July 2022 Accepted: 26 August 2022 Published: 29 August 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article Polish Translation and Validation of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI-30) Beata Mia´ skiewicz 1, * , El ˙ zbieta Gos 2 , Malgorzata D ˛ ebi ´ nska 1 , Aleksandra Panasiewicz-Wosik 1 , Dorota Kapustka 1 , Katarzyna Nikiel 1 , El ˙ zbieta Wlodarczyk 3 , Anna Domeracka-Kolodziej 1 , Paulina Krasnod ˛ ebska 1 and Agata Szkielkowska 1 1 Audiology and Phoniatric Clinic, World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, 05-830 Warsaw, Poland 2 Department of Teleaudiology and Screening, World Hearing Center, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, 05-830 Warsaw, Poland 3 Rehabilitation Clinic, World Hearing Centre, Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, 05-830 Warsaw, Poland * Correspondence: b.miaskiewicz@ifps.org.pl; Tel.: +48-22-356-03-51 Abstract: Traditional voice evaluations, including imaging techniques, auditory-perceptual ratings, and acoustic and aerodynamic analyses, fail to assess the global handicap that a patient experiences as a result of a voice disorder. The Voice Handicap Index (VHI) is currently one of the most widely used and psychometrically robust instruments for measuring voice disability. The aim of the study is to translate and validate a Polish version of the VHI. The original English-language version of VHI-30 was translated into Polish. We enrolled 188 subjects—123 patients (91 women and 32 men) with voice disorders and 65 controls (53 women and 12 men) without voice disorders. Results obtained by the patients were significantly higher than those obtained by the controls on the Emotional subscale (U = 519.0; p < 0.001), Functional (U = 829.0; p < 0.001), Physical (U = 331.0; p < 0.001), and the global score (U = 390.0; p < 0.001). There were statistically significant negative correlations between maximum phonation time and global score (rho = −0.31; p < 0.01) as well as all three subscales. Shimmer and Smoothed Amplitude Perturbation Quotient were correlated positively with the global score (rho = 0.22; p < 0.05; rho = 0.25; p < 0.01, respectively) and with all three subscales. There were also statistically significant correlations between VHI scores and auditory perceptual evaluation. In the patient group, there was excellent internal consistency (α = 0.97) and strong test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.94). The cut-off value equal to 17 points was estimated. The Polish VHI showed excellent internal consistency, good test–retest reproducibility, and clinical validity. It is a useful tool for evaluating the voice disability perceived by a patient. Keywords: voice handicap index; quality of life; reliability; validity; questionnaire 1. Introduction Voice disorders can affect patients in many different ways and may have an impact on their quality of life, creating numerous psychological, social, physical, and occupational implications [1]. Traditional evaluations, including visual-perceptual measures or objective acoustic and aerodynamic analyses, fail to assess the global handicap that a patient experi- ences as a result of a voice disorder [1]. In recent decades, particular importance has been attached to the assessment by patients of the subjective impact of voice disorders on the quality of life. Since the same voice disorder may result in different patient handicaps, for clinical application, standardized tools should be administered to evaluate the handicap experienced by a given patient [2]. Handicap can be thought of as a reduction of the quality of life. Researchers have shown the importance of including subjective self-measurements performed by the patient in standard voice evaluation [3]. The European Laryngological Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10738. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710738 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph