Edinburgh Napier University

  Purpose
This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of voice stimulus on the level of consciousness, physiological parameters and behavioural response of comatose patients in a tertiary care hospital of Udupi district, Karnataka, India.
Methods
A randomised control trial was undertaken with 20 comatose patients, 10 in each group. The participants in the intervention group were provided with the voice stimulus of their close relative for 3 times a day for 5 consecutive days and were assessed for any change in the level of consciousness, physiological parameters and behavioural responses. RMANOVA was computed to evaluate the effectiveness of voice stimulus.
Results
The results showed a significant improvement in the level of consciousness in the interventional group compared to the control group ((F = 11.756, p = 0.003). The behavioural responses before and during the intervention on day1 (p 0.001), day 2 (p 0.000), day 3 (p 0.002), day 4 (p 0.002) and day 5 (p 0.004) and also before and after the intervention on day 1 (p 0.023), day 4 (p 0.031) and on day 5 (p 0.030) were significant among the intervention group. However physiological parameters did not show significant variation with the voice stimulus among the comatose patients SBP (p 0.213), DBP (p 0.155), and SpO2 (p 0.601).
Conclusions
The results of the research showed that the voice stimulus with familiar voice showed a positive response among comatose patients on their level of consciousness and behavioural responses.