Overview
People develop a voice disorder for many reasons. A voice disorder is a change in how the voice sounds. Health care providers trained in ear, nose and throat illnesses and speech-language pathologists diagnose and treat voice issues.
Treatment depends on what’s causing the voice change. Treatment can include voice therapy, drugs, shots or surgery.
Causes
- Laryngitis
- Voice changes related to the brain and nervous system, known as spasmodic dysphonia (spaz-MOD-ki dis-FOE-nee-uh)
- Polyps, nodules or cysts on the vocal cords — growths that aren’t cancer
- Precancerous and cancerous growths
- Vocal cord paralysis or weakness