Voice Disorders Flashcards
what does voice reflect about ourselves?
- gender
- age
- personality characteristics
- emotion and feelings
pitch
FREQUENCY
rate of VF vibrations
measured in hertz (Hz)
male Fo
130 Hz
female Fo
250 Hz
Fo children
400+ Hz
intensity
LOUDNESS
physical process of increasing subglottal air pressure during voicing
how can we increase intensity (subglottal air pressure)
- push more air from lungs
- hyper-adducting VFs
optimal pitch
rate at which VFs vibrate best=Fo
what happens when you try to make VFs vibrate far from their Fo?
- vibrates for a shorter amount of time
- more stress and strain
organic voice disorders
have a physical ideology
functional voice disorders
occurs because of a person’s behaviors
-vocal misuse or abuse
monotone
- little or no variation in pitch
- organic
inappropriate pitch
- pitch is too high or too low
- outside of normal pitch range for age and gender (and far from person’s actual Fo)
- usually functional
pitch breaks
- sudden movements in pitch, upward or downward
- usually organic
monoloudness
- lack of variation in vocal intensity
- usually organic (RH disorders, advanced parkinson’s)
loudness variations
- extremes of loudness, usually due to loss of neurological control of voice
- usually organic
- hyperkinetic dysarthria
loudness VS pitch disorders: which is less common?
loudness disorders are less common
- they are often the result of neurological problems
- either reduce awareness of voice or reduce control of voice
breathiness
air escapes VFs, creating audible sound and whisper like quality (VFs don’t fully close)
-either organic or functional
how can breathiness be organic?
-VF paralysis (brainstem stroke, surgery, etc)
vocal tremor
- a high degree of cycle to cycle variation (jitter)
- usually organic (parkinson’s, cerebellar damage)
strain and struggle
- difficulty initiating voice, accompanied by visible stress in production
- usually organic
hoarseness
- rough, somewhat breathy voice, cause by aperiodic vibration of VFs
- functional or organic
- functional may be due to speaking far from optimal pitch
harshness
- rough, hard attack voice, usually without significant breathiness
- functional or organic
what are nonphonatory disorders
disorders that occur outside of speaking
stridor
- sound that acompanies inhalation and/or exhalation
- VFs are approximated when they should be open
aphonia
- absence of voice
- consistent or episodic
- mostly organic but can be functional
vocal nodules
- local growths that occur due to consistent hard VF collisions
- nodules are benign
where are vocal nodules usually found?
-anterior 1/3 of VFs
contact ulcers
- usually found on posterior portion of VFs
- probably due to reflux in most cases (organic-burns VFs)
- results in hoarseness and breathiness
vocal polyps
- ruptured, swollen blood vessels in VFs
- often the result of vocal misuse (functional)
- can be sessile (directly on VFs) or pedunculated (on a stalk)
laryngitis
- inflammation of VFs
- can result from exposure to noxious substances (organic)
- or vocal misuse (functional)
