Voice disorders affect your voice box (larynx) and can cause a consistent or inconsistent change in your voice. The larynx is the area of your throat that contains your vocal cords. It also has the muscles you need to talk, breathe and swallow.
Voice disorders, often referred to as dysphonia, manifest through changes in vocal quality, pitch, loudness, or vocal effort.
Symptoms and Signs of Voice Disorders
Key symptoms include:
- Rough Voice: A raspy sound with audible irregularities.
- Breathy Voice: Noticeable air escape during speech.
- Strained Voice: Increased effort and tension.
- Strangled Voice: Sounds as if speaking with held breath.
- Abnormal Pitch: Pitch that is too high, too low, or breaks frequently.
- Abnormal Loudness: Inconsistent volume, either too high, too low, or unsteady.
- Abnormal Resonance: Sounds like hypernasal or hyponasal tones.
- Aphonia: Complete loss of voice.
- Phonation Breaks: Interruptions in voice production.
- Asthenia: Weak voice.
- Gurgly Voice: Wet or gurgling sound.
- Pulsed Voice: Audible creaks or pulses.
- Shrill Voice: High-pitched, piercing sound.
- Tremorous Voice: Shaky voice with rhythmic variations.
Additional symptoms include increased vocal effort, decreased endurance, variable voice quality, shortness of breath, frequent coughing or throat clearing, and excessive throat pain or tension.
The symptoms mentioned can appear alone or together, and may change as treatment progresses, with some fading and others emerging as compensatory strategies are adjusted.
Causes of Voice Disorders
Voice disorders can stem from a mix of organic, functional, and psychogenic factors. For instance, vocal fold nodules might result from voice misuse, leading to structural changes.
Organic Causes:
- Structural Issues: Such as vocal nodules, cysts, polyps, edema, glottal stenosis, recurrent respiratory papilloma, and sarcopenia.
- Inflammation: Due to arthritis, laryngitis, or laryngopharyngeal reflux.
- Trauma: From intubation, chemical exposure, or external injuries.
- Neurologic Conditions: Including recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, spasmodic dysphonia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.
Functional Causes:
- Phono trauma: From yelling, screaming, excessive throat clearing, or speaking at inappropriate pitches.
- Muscle Tension Dysphonia: Excessive stress on vocal cords leading to straining and raspy and hoarse voice.
- Ventricular Phonation: Compression of false vocal cords on the true vocal cords and producing weak sounds and voice.
- Vocal Fatigue: Due to overuse or excessive effort.
Psychogenic Causes:
- Chronic Stress Disorders
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Conversion Disorders: Such as conversion aphonia or dysphonia.
Voice disorders arise when there’s a disruption in the balance among the respiratory system, laryngeal muscle activation, and the coordination of these systems with the supraglottic structures like the pharynx, oral cavity, and nasal cavity.
Preventive Measures
Good vocal hygiene can protect your voice. You can:
- Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
- Limit caffeine and alcohol, which dry out vocal cords.
- Manage conditions like allergies, chronic coughs and GERD (chronic acid reflux) that irritate vocal cords.
- Rest your vocal cords when possible if you do a lot of talking or singing.
- Do not engage in voice misuse behaviors such as yelling, effortful phonation, repetitive clearing of throat.
- Quit smoking and avoid second hand smoking.
Conclusion:
Voice disorders can have a profound effect on your communication and overall well-being. By recognizing the symptoms and understanding the underlying causes, you can take proactive steps to prevent and manage these issues. For more insights into managing voice disorders and related topics, check out our previous blog on “What Are the Main Types of Voice Disorders?”. At Talking Brains Dubai, we provide specialized speech therapy and support to help you maintain optimal vocal health.
