{"id":5398,"date":"2014-02-26T16:52:46","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T16:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/everhear.wpengine.com\/?p=5398"},"modified":"2019-07-29T15:20:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T15:20:29","slug":"voice-disorders-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/voice-disorders-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Voice Disorders: Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThis is the second article in a three-part series on voice disorders.<\/i><\/p>\n

A person with a voice disorder may begin by noticing that their voice feels tired or that their voice just isn\u2019t the same as it used to be. Singers may find that they are unable to reach the high notes of their range. There are usually two main professionals involved in a voice evaluation, although additional team members may be added as appropriate.\u00a0 The first is an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) physician. The ENT will generally perform a laryngoscopy or videostroboscopy. \u00a0Each of these procedures allows for the ENT to actually see the vocal folds and what\u2019s happening. They can see if the muscles are tense and if the vocal folds are moving properly. Is one vocal fold moving more than the other? They will also investigate if there are contributing factors, such as reflux, to the person\u2019s voice difficulty. The ENT may recommend medications to help with contributing factors.<\/p>\n

\"voice\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The other professional involved is typically the speech-language pathologist (SLP). The SLP\u2019s role is to evaluate the quality of the person\u2019s voice and investigate the impact of the voice disorder on the person\u2019s life. The impact of a voice disorder is individual to each person and is influenced by the severity of the disorder, voice use, and the person\u2019s thoughts and perceptions. An evaluation by an SLP may be comprised of two main parts: auditory-perceptual measures and acoustic measures. Auditory-perceptual measures primarily involve a trained SLP listening to the person\u2019s voice. This is how the voice is \u201cperceived.\u201d Auditory-perceptual measures allow the SLP to assess a person\u2019s pitch, loudness, and overall quality in different contexts, such as saying \u201caaaaaaa\u201d or while talking. The SLP will also observe the person\u2019s speaking style- do they have signs of tension in the throat? Is the person using appropriate breath support, or are they talking for long periods without taking a breath?<\/p>\n

Additionally, acoustic measures may be utilized during the evaluation with the SLP. This allows the SLP to obtain actual numbers pertaining to pitch, loudness, and information regarding cycles of vocal fold motion. Generally, the vocal folds move in sync, with both folds moving at the same pace. However, with a voice disorder, the cycles may become asymmetrical.\u00a0 For instance, one fold may move more than the other. Extra tension or mass on the folds may create a lag or less movement, which then results in a voice change. Perceptual and acoustic measures are supported by the ENT\u2019s diagnosis, which allows the patient to move forward with the most appropriate treatment plan. Additionally, during the evaluation, the SLP completes stimulability testing. This is basically where the SLP has the patient try out different therapy techniques to see which one is most appropriate for the patient.\u00a0 At this point, a determination for therapy candidacy is made.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the second article in a three-part series on voice disorders. A person with a voice disorder may begin by noticing that their voice feels tired or that their voice just isn\u2019t the same as it used to be. Singers may find that they are unable to reach the high notes of their range….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Voice Disorders: Part 2","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","schema":"","fname":"","lname":"","position":"","credentials":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1066,195,1067],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everhear.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}