Voice disorders.

Abstract

Many other diagnoses and treatments are of particular importance in caring for voice patients. Those discussed in this article are among the most common. The exacting demands of a professional singer or actor, his or her acute ability to analyze the body's condition, and his or her professional athlete's need for a nearly perfect result provide special challenges and gratification for physicians. However, a great many of our non-singer/actor patients are also extremely dependent on voice quality and endurance. Consequently, every patient with a voice complaint should be treated as Pavaroti or Sutherland would be treated, and every voice evaluation should be carried out systematically until a diagnosis has been made on the basis of positive evidence. The emergence of interdisciplinary teams, advanced instrumentation, and voice laboratories has made dramatic improvements in the standard of voice care, and the rapid development of voice as a subspecialty promises continuing advances in the care of voice disorders.