Multimedia Encyclopedia

Common disorders that affect the voice are vibration-induced lesions, or injuries, of the surface layer of the vocal cords, called mucosa. This kind of injury usually happens when a person overuses or abuses his or her voice:

Bruising

Capillary ectasia

Epidermoid cyst

Glottic furrow

Glottic sulcus

Indicator lesions

Mucosal bridge

Mucosal edema or swelling

Nodule

Open epidermoid cyst

Polyp

· Hemorrhagic polyp

Polypoid degeneration
(aka Reinke’s edema or smoker’s polyps)

Submucosal fibrosis

Tumors

Benign Tumors

A tumor is considered benign if it doesn’t pose the threat of invading or spreading to other tissues:

Amyloidosis

Chondroma

Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis

· Caused by human papillomavirus (HPV)

Malignant Tumors

A tumor is considered malignant if it has the potential to invade or spread to other tissues:

Cancer

Carcinoma

· Carcinoma in situ (CIS)

· Verrucous carcinoma

Sarcoma

Inflammation / Laryngitis

Laryngitis is a general term for inflammation of the larynx. There are different variants and causes:

Acid reflux

· Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

· Laryngopharynx acid reflux disease (LPRD)

Auto-immune laryngitis

Bacterial laryngitis

Candida laryngitis and pharyngitis

· Caused by candida albicans, a commensal organism

Croup

Cryptococcus neoformans

Laryngitis sicca

Post-surgical laryngitis

Radiation mucositis

Rheumatoid nodules of the vocal cords

Thyrohyoid syndrome

Ulcerative laryngitis

Viral laryngitis

Voice Disorders

Functional Voice Disorders

Functional voice disorders arise not from abnormality of the mechanism itself but instead from abnormal use of the mechanism, affected by personality or deficit of vocal skill, without discernible secondary gain.

Neurological Voice Disorders

Disorders of the nervous system (neurological) can affect the voice in different ways:

Essential voice tremor

Spasmodic dysphonia, a kind of focal dystonia of the larynx; also, laryngeal dystonia

· Abductor spasmodic dysphonia; also called intermittent whisper phonation

· Adductor spasmodic dysphonia

· Atypical spasmodic dysphonia

· Classic variant spasmodic dysphonia

· Mixed AB-AD spasmodic dysphonia

· Tonic variant spasmodic dysphonia

· SLAD-R

Palate paralysis

Paralyzed vocal cords

· Vocal cord paralysis, bilateral

· Vocal cord paralysis, unilateral

· Superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) paralysis

Parkinson’s disease-related voice change

Pharyngeal paralysis

Vocal cord paresis

Nonorganic Voice Disorder

Nonorganic voice disorders arise not from abnormality of the mechanism itself but instead from abnormal use of the mechanism, most often for conscious or subconscious secondary gain.

Miscellaneous Voice Disorders

These are other disorders that affect the voice or otherwise involve the larynx:

Ankylosis

Arytenoid chondritis / perichondritis

Bilateral vocal cord fixation

Bowing of the vocal cords

Breathy dysphonia

Breathy-pressed phonation or dysphonia

Dysphonia

Flaccidity of vocal cords

Fracture of larynx

Histoplasmosis

Inability to burp or belch

Intubation injury

Marfan syndrome

Necrosis

Perimenopausal voice change

Phonatory insufficiency

Presbylarynx

Presbyphonia

Scarring

Vocal cord scissoring

Search By Diagnostics

Procedures & Tools

These procedures, tools, and materials are used to help diagnose a variety of voice, swallowing, airway, and coughing disorders:

Acoustic analysis of voice

Aerodynamic analysis of voice

Auditory perceptual evaluation of voice

Biopsy

Bronchoscopy

Electroglottography (EGG)

Electromyogram (EMG)

· Laryngeal electromyogram (LEMG)

Esophageal manometry

Esophagoscopy

· Transnasal esophagoscopy (TNE)

History of the present illness

· Talkativeness scale

· Symptom complex

· Vocal commitments

· Vocal loudness scale

Laryngeal examination

· Laryngeal mirror examination

· Laryngeal videostroboscopy

· Laryngoscopy

· “Motivated” laryngeal examination

Pulmonary function tests (PFTs)

Spirometry

Topical anesthesia

· Lidocaine

· Pontocaine

Trial therapy

Videoendoscopy

Videoendoscopic swallowing study (VESS)

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS)

Vocal capability battery, aka voice evaluation

· Elicitation

· Modeling

· Vocal task

Voice Phenomenology

Voice phenomenology refers to the audible features of a person’s voice or a person’s related behavior that might be noticed by an examining clinician, either during the person’s spontaneous voice use, or in response to various voice elicitations, as when conducting the vocal capability battery:

Addition of loudness

Air-wasting dysphonia

Average/anchor frequency

Ceiling effect

Creaky voice

Diplophonia

Dystonic tremor of the voice or larynx

La belle indifference

Latency (of voice production)

Lowered vocal ceiling

Luffing

Maximum phonation time (MPT)

Mucosal chatter

Obligatory falsetto

Onset delay

Paralytic falsetto

Phonatory arrest

Pitch

Popping onset

Positive/ Negative practice

Pulse register

Segmental vibration

Shattered vibration

Squeezedown

Vibrato

Vocal fry

Vocal instability

Vocal tremor

Methodologies

These different diagnostic models or methodologies affect which diagnostic procedures and tools are relied upon or, whether explicitly or in practice, viewed as optional:

Integrative diagnostic model

Reductionistic or technology-driven diagnostic model

Traditional diagnostic model