The Artificial Larynx

Image from Protip Medical We have had artificial lungs, artificial hearts, artificial kidneys... but now we also have an artificial larynx. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine in Jan 2017, French researchers described a patient who required the entire voicebox removed (laryngectomy) due to cancer and than implanted with a totally artificial larynx in 2015. This patient is actually the second patient who has undergone artificial laryngeal implantation. The first occurred in 2…

1/09/2017 0

Continue Reading

Argentine President Undergoes Vocal Cord Surgery

Image by Casa Rosada in Wikipedia On Dec 20, 2016, media reported that the Argentine President Mauricio Macri underwent a 10 minute office procedure to extract a polyp from the vocal cord. He reportedly went immediately back to work after the procedure. The details are sparse and it is unclear exactly what was done to extract the vocal cord polyp . However, there are only a two ways a vocal cord polyp can be extracted in the office without sedation (that I know of). 1) Trans-nasa…

12/21/2016 0

Continue Reading

Donny Osmond Undergoes Vocal Cord Surgery

On August 11, 2015, Donny Osmond underwent vocal cord surgery to remove a hemorrhagic polyp.  The year 2015 is turning out to be a doozy for injured vocal cords with 4 other celebrity singers being sidelined for vocal cord injuries. • Miranda Lambert - July 2015 •  Meghan Trainor  - July 2015 •  Chad Kroeger  - June 2015 •  Sam Smith  - April 2015 •  Nathan Sykes  - April 2013 •  Nicki Manaj  - August 2012 •  Florence Welch  - July 2012 •  Maxwell  - June 2012 •  Keith Urban  - Nov…

8/24/2015 0

Continue Reading

Transgender Voice Change

For individuals undergoing transgender sex reassignment transformation, perhaps the most difficult outward change to accomplish is the voice which ideally should sound like the gender that has been selected. If you look like a woman, you should sound like a woman (and vice versa). Watch a video of Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) at the end of this article. So what can be done to try and make the voice sound more consistent with the gender? Overall, it is easier to make a woman so…

8/02/2015 0

Continue Reading

What Does the Uvula Do?

Given how frequently doctors look in peoples' mouths, physicians probably get asked this question a dozen times a day by curious patients.  This question of uvular function also extended into ancient times with a variety of theories proposed over the years... Hippocrates and Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. and Berenargio da Carpri in 1900 referred to the uvula only as a source of possible inflammation and edema capable of causing suffocation. Galen (122-199 A.D.) considered it to be…

5/31/2015 0

Continue Reading

The Longer Hoarseness Lasts, the More Expensive it Becomes to Treat

It is generally accepted that if a voice is hoarse for over 2 weeks, an ENT evaluation is recommended.  The main concern is whether there is something more serious going on that would require specialist treatment whether it be unusual medications or even surgery. Researchers have also found out that patients who see an ENT after 3 weeks of hoarseness also pay substantially more money than if they had seen an ENT earlier. The longer patients wait, the more expensive it becomes to correct t…

4/22/2015 0

Continue Reading

Dr. Chang to Guest Lecture at the Washington Hospital Center in DC

It was with great honor and pleasure that I was asked by the DC Metro Voice and Laryngeal Disorders Study Group to present on a topic of my choice at their quarterly meeting held at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC on Dec 12, 2014. I decided to give a talk entitled "Perceptual Evaluation of the Hoarse Voice" chock full of audiovisual examples and audience queries. It was also good to see some familiar faces at the talk including: Dr. Nazaneen Grant - Assistan…

12/02/2014 0

Continue Reading

Dr. Chang Quoted in PBS Publication NextAvenue

Image from Here Dr. Chang was quoted in a NextAvenue (PBS)  article discussing vocal cords and their treatment when they are over-used (i.e. nodules ) as in the case with Joan Rivers or under-used (i.e. bowing ). You can read the full article here . This article was written by journalist Michelle Rafter in the wake of Joan Rivers' death from some type of endoscopic "throat" procedure, a not uncommon experience for any patient including the elderly complaining of throat sy…

9/06/2014 0

Continue Reading

How Common is Hoarseness?

At some point, we all have suffered from a hoarse voice whether from illness or from yelling. However, it was unclear exactly how common this malady is until now... and apparently, the answer is "very common"... According to a study looking to answer this question, hoarseness affected 17.9 million adults in 2012.   The average age was 49 years old and 63% were women. Overall, 10% saw a health care professional for their hoarseness and 40% were given a diagnosis. Infectious la…

5/04/2014 0

Continue Reading

How Long Do Swallowing and Voice Problems Last After C-Spine Surgery ACDF?

I often see patients for swallowing and/or voice difficulties after cervical spine surgery (ACDF) . In the vast majority of cases, reassurance that such "side effects" are not uncommon is the only thing I need to provide after a complete exam. After all, both the voice box and swallowing tube are manipulated and pushed over to one side in order to perform cervical spine surgery from an anterior approach. Check out the video below that illustrates how this happens. Beyond reas…

12/29/2013 1

Continue Reading

How to Describe Hoarseness?

At heart, physicians are science geeks. And when it comes to a raspy voice , one can go truly bananas in how exactly to describe how a raspy voice sounds. For the layperson, when asked to describe a hoarse voice, one often gets imprecise answers to a question most feel ridiculous... I often get a blank look with an answer that goes something like "You know... raspy... it's not clear." Unfortunately, such a description is inadequate. Even when using more descriptors like deeper…

11/16/2013 0

Continue Reading

iPhone App to Objectively Measure Vocal Quality (f0, shimmer, jitter, etc)

For the inner geek in all singers and other professional voice users, you can now download onto your iPhone an advanced voice analysis program that provides objective measures of vocal quality similar to what is obtained in a professional voice laboratory. Called OperaVox , preliminary studies have shown good reliability compared to KayPentax Multidimensional Voice Program (f0, shimmer, jitter). Noise to harmonic ratio showed less reliability. Retest reliability was also fairly consistent i…

11/15/2013 0

Continue Reading

First Implantation of Human Artificial Larynx Announced!

Image taken from DNA ProTip SAS and Strasbourg University Hospitals announced that a fully artificial larynx was implanted into a human for the first time. Made entirely of titanium, the surgery was performed in two stages into a man with throat cancer that required his entire voicebox to be removed (laryngectomy). Stage 1: In June 2012, the larynx was removed and a titanium tracheal ring was implanted in its place. Stage 2: In November 2012, a removable valve-based device was inse…

10/10/2013 0

Continue Reading

Vocal Cord Tear Silences R&B Singer Frank Ocean

Image by Fred von Lohmann from Wikipedia On July 25, 2013, R&B singer Frank Ocean was forced to cancel his entire Australian concert tour due to a small vocal cord tear. After singing his opening night with a sore throat during which he reportedly sounded "noticeably off-key," he seeked medical attention and was informed of the unfortunate condition of his vocal cord. Listening to his voice on this YouTube video recorded during this fateful concert, his voice actually doe…

7/27/2013 0

Continue Reading

Pitch Perfect's Vocal Cord Nodules

Becca (played by Anna Kendrick) In the hilarious movie Pitch Perfect , Becca played by the lovely Anna Kendrick participates in an all-female a capella singing group. During a critical juncture in the movie, one of the soloist Chloe (played by Brittany Snow ) reveals she had been living (and singing) with vocal cord nodules . The movie implies that Chloe's vocal cord nodules were surgically removed and that perhaps days later, she resumed singing, though not recovered to the degre…

5/21/2013 2

Continue Reading

Beyonce Cancels Concert Due to Dehydration (and Exhaustion)

Image by Jingjing Cheng from Wikipedia Media has reported the superstar pop singer Beyonce cancelled her May 14, 2013 concert in Belgium on the advice of her doctors "due to dehydration and exhaustion". Though the rumor mill is churning with the possibility of a pregnancy, I was more interested that a concert was cancelled due to dehydration concerns. Why is hydration so important for voice production, especially in as athletic activity as singing? With hydration, the glan…

5/16/2013 0

Continue Reading

Google CEO Larry Page Suffers from Bilateral Vocal Cord Paralysis

Image by Marcin Mycielski from Wikipedia Over the past year, there has been concern over the health of Google CEO Larry Page after missing a few important meetings and having a hoarse voice that is unusually soft and prolonged. Apparently, it's because he suffers from bilateral vocal cord paralysis . [ link ] He initially suffered from a unilateral vocal cord paralysis at the age of 14 years old. At that time, his left vocal cord became paralyzed after a viral URI . Beyond a viral…

5/14/2013 0

Continue Reading

What Makes a Voice Sound Attractive?

Ever hear a voice that sounded sexy or attractive? Ever build a mental image of what a stranger on the phone may look like purely based on the sound of the voice??? Well, according to researchers , an attractive voice reflects an attractive perceived body size. A group of human subjects listened to the same sentence that was manipulated by altering pitch, acoustic resonance, and voice quality based on body size projections reported for animal calls and emotional human vocal expressions. …

5/01/2013 1

Continue Reading

How the Voice Anatomically Reverberates to Produce Speech

Came across this old school animation showing how sound produced in the voicebox reverberates in the upper airway, mouth, and nasal cavity to produce speech that everybody else hears. To watch what it looks like from the inside, check this video out. Source: FFFFound! 5/23/11

4/26/2013 0

Continue Reading

Men with Deeper Voices are More Successful

©  Dreamstime Agency  |  Dreamstime Stock Photos A Duke University study has found that men with deeper voices not only are more successful, but also make significantly more money. How much more money? $187,000 per year more than men with higher-pitched voices. How much deeper does the voice need to be to make a difference? Apparently 22.1 hertz which is approximately 1/6 the difference between the pitch of James Earl Jones (low-pitch) and Mike Tyson (high-pitch). Other research (see b…

4/21/2013 0

Continue Reading