Singer’s Dysphonia: Etiology, Treatment, and Team Management

Abstract

Singers will often suffer from dysphonia. This may range from a mild breathiness or vocal fatigue to severe hoarseness. It is a problem that nearly all professional singers have experienced or will experience over their careers. As practitioners, it is our goal to recognize the disparate etiologies of dysphonia, diagnose them correctly, and treat them efficiently and effectively as would be demanded by the needs of a professional voice user. For a singer, the responsibility is to learn how to care for one’s vocal instrument and recognize dysphonia early, so that it can be easily treated before there is a severe problem. These issues are addressed with the goal of creating a collective understanding about dysphonia in singers so that the singer, physician, laryngologist, voice therapist, vocal teacher, and other caregivers can coordinate as a team to administer the best care and achieve excellent results.