Aging Voice

Have you noticed the subtle and gradual changes in your voice as days pass? Do some people tell you that your words no longer sound as clear as it once was? Do you notice that your favorite singer can no longer reach high notes as well as they did during their prime years?

Like the rest of our body, our voice changes as we age. Though people tend to focus more on what is physically seen like the sagging of the jowls or the wrinkles on our face, aging voice can have similar detrimental effect on the life of a person. For instance, people who work in the “voice business”, teachers, telephone operators, radio broadcasters, announcers, singers, and the lot, will definitely have their lives altered with the change in their voices.

For elderly patients who present with voice problems, presbyphonia, or aging of the larynx, is one of the most common issue, poor vocal projection, shorter phonation duration, and changes in pitch and tone are just few of the manifestations of the condition. For people who experience the “aging voice”, the usual cause is glottic insufficiency, or the failure of the vocal folds to close completely, therefore giving that somewhat airy sound to your voice. However, since aging affects the body systemically, other factors that can alter breath support or pulmonary capacity, or induce neurologic deficits and tremor, may also have an effect on another person’s voice and indicate an underlying medical condition that needs to be addressed.

Several therapeutic options are available for people who have the so-called “presbyphonia”, depending on the degree of vocal fold changes as well as the needs of the patient. For Otolaryngologists such as our respectable surgeon, Prof. Somyos Kunachak, determining the root cause of the problem is the only way to improve the condition of the patient. Accurate diagnosis of the cause of vocal problems in the elderly is the first critical step. Along with a thorough medical history, which includes medications and environmental factors (e.g., tobacco smoke) that can affect the voice, examination of the larynx to look at the vocal cords and to determine the degree of glottal dysfunction is very critical.

On most cases, voice therapy is the only form of treatment necessary. However, for those with more severe of glottal dysfunction (relaxation), surgery is often the answer.

At Yoskarn Clinic, our surgeon performs Voice Lift surgery to correct the aging voice. Before the procedure however, our surgeon will have to perform a stroboscopy to see the degree of glottic insufficiency. More often, the procedure that is recommended is by filler injection or by fat stem cell injection to the larynx to make the vocal cords bulkier. This is a minimal invasive surgical procedure to bring the glottis closer together to so that they can close properly when we speak. Significant improvement in voice quality can be noted in a few days after the procedure.

The other method, the Thyroplasty, or external implants, is often recommended only for cases with large vocal fold gaps. This procedure is more complicated and risky and recovery is longer as it will be more invasive but this technique is the only possible solution for more serious cases of vocal fold dysfunction.