Singing Exercises to Improve Symptoms of Snoring and Sleep Apnea

A Single Blinded Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial to Investigate Whether Singing Exercises Can Improve Symptoms of Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Upper airway resistance during sleep can present with a range of symptoms from simple snoring (SS) through to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Pharyngeal narrowing or collapse leads to reduction or cessation in airflow during sleep, and is associated with loud snoring.

The investigators hypothesized that regular singing exercises could strengthen pharyngeal muscles and/or increase their resting tone, and lead to an improvement of symptoms and thus quality of life in patients with all forms of snoring.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

127

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Exeter, United Kingdom, EX2 5DW
        • Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • age 18 years old or over
  • history of simple snoring or sleep apnoea with RDI 10-40

Exclusion Criteria:

  • severe sleep apnoea RDI >40
  • morbid obesity BMI > 40
  • unable to provide written informed consent

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: SINGLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Singing exercises
A 3 month self-guided treatment based on a specially designed 3CD box set, which patient performed every day ('Singing for Snorers': UK)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Epworth sleepiness scale
Time Frame: Entry to study (day one), and after 3 months of intervention
Entry to study (day one), and after 3 months of intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Loudness of snoring
Time Frame: Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
Visual analogue scale rating
Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
Frequency of snoring
Time Frame: Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
Visual analogue scale rating
Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
SF-36 quality of life assessment tool
Time Frame: Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
Entry to study (day one), and 3 months after intervention
Compliance with exercises
Time Frame: After 3 months of intervention
Applied only to intervention group. Rated on visual analogue scale of 100mm from 'never' to 'every day'
After 3 months of intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Malcolm P Hilton, BMBCh FRCS, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2005

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

November 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 23, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 23, 2011

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 24, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 24, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 23, 2011

Last Verified

March 1, 2011

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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