Bowing of the vocal cords may be due to aging, atrophy, bilateral superior laryngeal nerve paralysis, injudicious vocal cord surgery, of an idiopathic cause. The bowing usually produces a dysphonia characterized by breathiness due to air escape ;
however, it can produce aphonia.
This report reviews vocal function after surgical correction of bowing of the vocal cords for diagnosis and management. The vocal function of 13 patients with sulcus vocalis and 12 patients with vocal cord atrophy was evaluate with the use of a
test
battery of multibimensional evaluation items.
The voice was improved postoperatively in most patients. The voice improvement was reflected objectively in maximum phonation time, mean air flow rate during phonation, stroboscopic findings. Sound pressure level range and fundamental frequency
range of
phonation, and results of acoustic analyses of tape-recorded voice. The vocal function after surgical correction of the sulcus vocalis and vocal cord atrophy was improved postoperatively in most patient, but the results were not satisfactory.
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