Voice Disorders & Treatment Flashcards

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) such as lip trills and straw phonation work primarily by:

Answer: Creating intraoral back-pressure that lowers collision force on the vocal folds

SOVTEs create a high impedance at the lips/straw, generating intraoral pressure that acts back on the glottis to reduce impact stress during phonation.

A patient post-thyroidectomy presents with low-pitched, breathy voice and aspiration on thin liquids. Laryngoscopy confirms left vocal fold immobility in the lateral position. What is the MOST likely next medical intervention?

Answer: Medialization laryngoplasty or injection augmentation

Lateral position paralysis results in a wide glottic gap; medialization procedures (type I thyroplasty or injection augmentation) restore glottal closure to improve voice and swallowing safety.

Which voice disorder is most strongly associated with a history of repeated intubation trauma?

Answer: Posterior glottic stenosis or contact granuloma

Repeated or prolonged intubation causes pressure injury at the posterior glottis, predisposing to contact granuloma or subglottic/posterior glottic stenosis.

In the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD) program, the primary therapeutic target is:

Answer: Increasing vocal loudness through intensive effort

LSVT LOUD targets increased vocal loudness using 'think loud' as the single salient cue to recalibrate the sensorimotor system in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Jitter is best described as:

Answer: Cycle-to-cycle variation in fundamental frequency (period perturbation)

Jitter measures the degree of cycle-to-cycle variability in the period (duration) of vocal fold vibration and reflects aperiodicity in the voice source.

A patient exhibits falsetto voice (mutational falsetto/puberphonia) after successful puberty. The voice is characterized by:

Answer: Habitual use of a high-pitched falsetto register despite normal laryngeal structure

Mutational falsetto (puberphonia) is a functional disorder where the patient maintains a falsetto register habitually despite having an anatomically normal post-pubertal larynx.

Which finding on videostroboscopy is most indicative of a submucosal lesion rather than a surface lesion?

Answer: Absence or severe reduction of mucosal wave over the lesion

Submucosal lesions (e.g., cysts) stiffen the cover, markedly reducing or eliminating the mucosal wave over that area, unlike surface lesions that may preserve some wave.