Dysphonia in Children

Communication in the childhood has a crucial role in personal and social development. Pediatric dysphonia creates serious communication problems and restrictions in social and emotional functioning with improper voice quality, pitch and loudness, and voice breaks. A dysphonic child will be negatively affected (aggressive, sad, frustrated) emotionally and perceived more negatively (angry and noisy) by peers and adults. They also report frustration and limited participation in important events due to their vocal inabilities. Diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up in pediatric dysphonia must be considered with continuously changing structural and developmental biomechanical factors. Laryngeal position, vocal tract length (vertically short), histoanatomical structure, and functions of the larynx change throughout childhood. The vocal fold length is only 2.5–3.0 mm in the newborn and it reaches adult dimensions (female 11–15 mm and male 17–21 mm around 10–14 years of age). Lamina propria in the newborns is loose and pliable and does not have a layered structure. Vocal ligament appears between 1 and 4 years and the three-layered lamina propria is not clear until 15 years of age.