Voice disorders are any deviation in pitch, intensity, resonance or quality that renders a person’s voice “abnormal” to the listener. It may be caused by such reasons as overuse, viral and bacterial conditions, neurologic disorders, trauma, surgery, cancer and psychological difficulties.
Symptoms of Voice Disorders
- loss of voice
- voice breaking
- hoarseness
- volume (too loud/too soft)
- changes in pitch
- running out of breath at the ends of sentences
- persistent throat clearing or coughing
- foreign accent syndrome
Voice Disorder Treatment
Voice disorder treatment may include medication, surgery, voice therapy or a combination of these. The goal of voice therapy is to learn new/better patterns of voice production and to eliminate poor vocal habits.