The term dysphonia – colloquially called hoarseness – (synonyms: hyperfunctional dysphonia; hypofunctional dysphonia; senile dysphonia; ICD-10-GM R49.0: dysphonia) refers to a voice disorder represented by a harsh, impure, or busy voice with an altered timbre. It occurs in diseases or dysfunctions of the larynx (larynx) and the base tube.
Dysphonia is classified into:
- Organic voice disorder (physical reasons).
- functional voice disorder (disorders of laryngeal function: imbalance of the muscles involved in voice formation).
- Hyperfunctional variant, i.e., the muscles involved in the formation of the voice make too much effort.
- Hypofunctional variant, i.e. here is an underfunction of the muscles in the larynx, with the result that the vocal folds do not close completely, leaving a larger gap between them. This causes air to escape, which is perceived as a breathy sound in the voice
- Mixed forms
Organic voice disorder may have the following causes:
- Irregular vibration behavior between the left and right vocal fold (eg, in a unilateral tissue proliferation of the vocal fold due to laryngitis / laryngitis).
- incomplete glottis closure (the glottis is the crack between the vocal folds and the stellate cartilages) during phonation/voice production (e.g., due to:
- Recurrent paresis (vocal cord paralysis) (e.g., due to surgical procedures in the neck region, especially thyroid surgery) or
- Tumors (local tumor diseases of the larynx, esophagus, thyroid and lungs) which represent an obstacle to phonation.
In dysphonia, the following forms are distinguished:
- Acute dysphonia – the cause is usually a laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx) and / or inflammation of the vocal cords.
- Chronic dysphonia – dysphonia persists for more than three to four months; causes can be vocal cord nodules, vocal fold polyps or laryngeal carcinoma (cancer of the larynx); also, the causes can be congenital (congenital)
Dysphonia can be a symptom of many diseases (see under “Differential diagnoses”).
Prevalence (disease frequency): almost 30% of all people have dysphonia at some point in their lives.Course and prognosis: the prognosis depends on the nature and severity of the underlying disease. Acute dysphonia is harmless and subsides after a few days.In the presence of functional voice disorders, voice therapy, is the therapy of first choice. The prognosis of functional voice disorders is goodGenerally, any hoarseness that persists for more than three weeks must be clarified by a doctor!
