Page 16 - 16-35 Jan 8 2020

Voice Disorders and Therapy

Continuing in our series on voice disorders, we had been discussing a vocal cord
pathology called Sulcus Vocalis and its effect on voice. As such, I would like to now detail the
causes and treatments.

Causes of Sulcus on the vocal cords may be congenital or acquired; That is, one may be
born with the pathology or acquire it do to trauma to the vocal folds resulting from surgery,
repeated hemorrhaging, or lesions which may over time furrow into the fold.

Treatment for Sulcus Vocalis may range from voice therapy to a combination of medical
intervention and voice therapy together. Therapy for the voice like in all cases is designed to
optimize the vocal quality and teach the patient to use the voice efficiently. While there are
various medical procedures used for Sulcus (again, depending on the severity), one more
common procedure is collagen injection into the vocal cord. Collagen is a form of fat and
consequently fills up the void space of the vocal fold.

Again, it is important to note, that even in situations that require medical intervention,
voice threapy is often recommended.

While my intention was to cover vocal cord paralysis in this article, I would like to switch
to a different topic for the remainder of this article though I will cover the previously
mentioned topic in the future. Recently I’ve been asked quite a few times regarding the
difference between voice lessons and voice therapy. I would like to explain the difference as
follows.

Voice lessons is generally carried out by a chazzan/cantor or vocal professional who
seeks to develop the voice of the client into one that is used more often for singing or extensive
voice usage. Voice therapy is carried out by a Speech-Language Pathologist to get rid a voice
problem/disorder (nodules, polyps, etc…). And while there may be some level of similarity or
even overlap between voice lessons and voice therapy, when done correctly there should be
significantly obvious differences. As well, SOME Speech Therapists are able to offer voice
lessons to varying degrees. It is imperative for the success and outcome of the training/therapy
that one choose a well trained and experienced vocal coach/therapist.