At our practice, we use a 7-point interval scale upon which the patient and family will rate the patient’s degree of talkativeness.

(1) signifies an individual who is unusually quiet and uncommunicative;

(4) represents an averagely talkative person;

(7) describes someone who is unusually extroverted and even a “life of the party” type.

Notably, persons with mucosal injuries (e.g., vocal nodules) are almost invariably (6) or (7); the exception might be a person whose occupational demands on the voice are truly extreme.