What are voice and resonance disorders?
Both children and adults may experience voice and resonance disorders. These may include one or more of the following symptoms:
- hoarseness, strained, breathy or raspy vocal quality
- discomfort upon voicing
- inappropriate pitch
- vocal fatigue after talking
- reduction in vocal range during speaking and/or singing
- hypernasality
In addition, voice disorders may result from Parkinson’s disease, spasmodic dysphonia, stroke, traumatic brain injury or other neurological disorders.
Resonance problems can result from structural issues, such as cleft palate and submucous cleft, or surgical interventions, such as removal of structures used for speech.
Clefts of the lip/palate occur in approximately one in 750 newborns, making this deformity the fourth most common birth defect and the most common facial birth defect. This population is at risk for speech, resonance (nasal-sounding voices) and hearing problems. Additionally, feeding an infant with a cleft palate can be challenging.
What is the evaluation procedure?
The Voice Care Center at the Communication Disorders Clinic provides comprehensive evaluations by experienced and certified speech-language pathologists. These evaluations include both instrumentation procedures as well as data collected from survey forms. Evaluations may include
- laryngeal imaging
- aerodynamic tests
- acoustic analysis
- auditory-based measures
Clients who already have received a voice evaluation at another location should send this report along with the UCF case history form to the Communication Disorders Clinic. This will provide information about whether additional evaluation procedures need to be completed. In addition, clients need to send any relevant medical reports including radiological reports or IEP school records.
If you are a parent of a child who has a cleft lip and/or palate, comprehensive evaluations are available and include speech and language assessment, imaging of closure patterns between the soft palate and posterior wall of the pharynx (back of the throat), and resonance (nasality) measurement.
What type of treatment do we provide?
The Voice Care Center at the Communication Disorders Clinic offers state-of-the-art voice evaluations and treatment. Clinical faculty members are distinguished service providers as well as dedicated teachers and researchers who prepare the next generation of speech-language pathologists.
Treatments for voice disorders may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- resonance therapy
- laryngeal massage and relaxation
- Lee Silverman Voice Therapy for Parkinson disease and other neurologic disorders
- vocal health and hygiene counseling
- rehabilitation for injured singing voice
- expiratory muscle strength training
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Hear from our clients and their families
A client learns to project his voice.
Note: “www.ucfspeechlanguagetherapy.com” has been changed to healthprofessions.ucf.edu/cdclinic/.
