Voice Disorders "Keepers" for Clients and Classes

By Judith Maginnis Kuster

In reorganizing my "Introduction to Communication Disorders" class last spring, I scoured the Internet for new materials and was amazed at what I uncovered to embed in my PowerPoint lectures or assign to students to augment the text and lectures. For just one section alone, voice and voice disorders, I found enough treasures for practically an entire course. The materials below can be very helpful for classroom instruction and in-service presentations, but also to enhance clients' understanding of their disorder and its treatment. Many additional sites can be found with a careful search of the Internet, but these were several of my favorites.

Images

• The Voice Problem Website (www.voiceproblem.org) is an educational site whose purpose is to support patients with "more complex, more intractable" voice disorders. The section on "Anatomy and Physiology of Voice Production" (www.voiceproblem.org/anatomy/index.asp) contains a slide show of excellent graphics and a downloadable pdf chapter.

• Other sites providing images of the larynx and laryngeal pathology
  • Laryngeal pathology (www1.wfubmc.edu/voice/gallery)
  • Discover the Larynx (http://sprojects.mmi.mcgill.ca/larynx/notes/n_frames.htm)
  • Disorders of the larynx (www.otohns.net/default.asp?id=15102)
  • Larynx photographs (www.entusa.com/voice_box_cancer.htm)

• Voices of Several Voice Disordered Patients (www.entusa.com/larynx_videos.htm) from Kevin Kavanagh, MD.

• Speech Samples for Normal and Hypernasal Speech (www.acpa-cpf.org/EducMeetings/speechSamples/index.htm) for men, women, and children spanning the range from normal to extreme hypernasality.

• Diseases of the Larynx (www.texasvoicecenter.com/diseases.html) from the Texas Voice Center provides several audio and video samples. A mirror site (www.otohns.net/default.asp?id=15102) enlarges several of the images.

• From the University of Iowa Department of Otolaryngology, case presentation tutorials (www.medicine.uiowa.edu/otolaryngology/cases/index1.htm) with embedded Quicktime movies and audio recordings of the normal larynx, thyroplasty, arytenoid granuloma, Reinke's oedema, nodules, bilateral polyp, recurrent papilloma, and ventricular cyst.

• The Larynx Cancer (www.entusa.com/voice_box_cancer.htm) site has videos of a laryngeal biopsy and of a partial cordectomy.

• Personal Experiences (www.voiceproblem.org/experiences/index.asp) is a collection of quicktime video testimonials from a variety of voice patients.

• Fantastic Voyage (www.ncvs.org/ncvs/tutorials/youngexp/fantasticvoyage.html) is a narrated voyage of the throat with the aid of a videostroboscope, from the National Center for Voice and Speech.

• Injection Augmentation of the Vocal Folds (www.sandiegovoice.org/caha.html) and In-Office Laryngeal Papilloma Procedure (www.sandiegovoice.org/papilloma.html)

• The Voice Academy (www.voiceacademy.org) was created to provide information on vocal health to teachers. The Web site takes teachers through an imaginary school where they learn various strategies relating to vocal health in 10 virtual classrooms. It contains short videos, photos, audio clips, and interactive features. The link "in-service leaders" contains a fully-scripted, 50-minute in-service curriculum that SLPs can use to introduce teachers to the Voice Academy.

• The Core Curriculum for Cleft Lip/Cleft Palate and other Craniofacial anomalies (www.acpa-cpf.org/EducMeetings/CoreCurriculum2002a.pdf) is a guide for educators from the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.

• ASHA leaflets
  • Paradoxical Vocal Fold Movement (www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/vocal_fold.cfm)
  • Vocal Fold Nodules and Polyps (www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/nodules_polyps)
  • Vocal Fold Paralysis (www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/vf_paralysis.cfm)
  • Spasmodic Dysphonia (www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Spasmodic-Dysphonia.cfm)

• Clinical leaflets from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
  • Voice Problems in Adults (www.rcslt.org/leaflet-vpa.shtml)
  • Voice Problems in Children (www.rcslt.org/leaflet-vpc.shtml)

• Ear, Nose, and Throat Information Center Brochure Home Page (www.sinuscarecenter.com/brochure.html) has several brochures relating to voice disorders including Hoarseness: Prevention and Treatment; Head and Neck Cancer Warning Signs; Reflux: Indigestion, hoarseness, sore throat; and Deviated Nasal Septum.

• The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) site (www.entnet.org/healthinfo/index.cfm) contains several short articles for patients (or communication disorders students) on a variety of voice topics including laryngeal cancer; understanding vocal fold lesions: nodules, polyps, and cysts; vocal cord paralysis; the most common voice disorders; and maintaining a healthy voice. Check out the information on Spit Tobacco (www.entnet.org/healthinfo/tobacco/spit_tobacco.cfm).

Judith Kuster is in the department of speech, hearing, and rehabilitation services at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Contact her at judith.kuster@mnsu.edu. All of Kuster's Internet columns are on ASHA's Web site in HTML format with active links (www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/news.htm), although URLs change and there is no guarantee that links from previous articles are still functional.

Kuster, JM, Voice Disorders "Keepers" for Clients and Classes, ASHA Leader, June 14, 2005, p. 17.