Voice Disorders and Speech Therapy

Voice Disorders

• Voice disorders can have a significant impact on an individual's life, affecting their academic, social, psychological, and vocational abilities.

Processes of Speech Production

• Respiration, phonation, resonation, articulation, and prosody are the five processes involved in speech production.

Anatomy and Physiology of Voice Production

• The larynx is responsible for phonation, airway protection, assisting in swallowing, and helping in activities that require highly elevated abdominal pressures.

Incidence and Prevalence of Voice Disorders

• The incidence and prevalence of voice disorders are not precisely known due to conflicting definitions, methodological differences, and varying patient populations.
• According to Roy et al. (2005), nearly 7% of respondents had a voice disorder at the time of the interview, and nearly 30% had experienced a voice disorder at least once in their lifetime.
• Cohen et al. (2012) reported that about 1% of patients received a diagnosis of dysphonia, with females being almost twice as likely as males to be diagnosed with dysphonia.

Classification of Voice Disorders

• Stemple (2007) classified voice disorders into congenital laryngeal pathologies, pathologies of the vocal fold cover, neurogenic laryngeal pathologies, and pathologies of muscular dysfunction.
• Boone et al. (2020) suggested a classification of voice disorders into muscle tension voice disorders, functional voice disorders, psychogenic voice disorders, and organic voice disorders.

Types of Voice Disorders

• Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) is the most common voice disorder, resulting from overuse of the respiratory, laryngeal, and supralaryngeal systems, and can lead to secondary tissue changes.
• Psychogenic voice disorders can result from severe emotional trauma or conflict, leading to functional dysphonia or functional aphonia.
• Organic voice disorders are related to structural deviations or diseases of specific structures of the vocal tract.

This quiz covers the basics of voice disorders, anatomy and physiology of voice production, voice assessment, and voice therapy. It also touches on speech production processes and communication.