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New Advances in the Management of Voice Disorders: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Otolaryngology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2026 | Viewed by 905

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Speech-Language Pathology, SRH University of Applied Health Sciences, 40476 Düsseldorf, Germany
Interests: voice diagnostics; acoustics; voice treatment; voice therapy; voice quality; vocal function; larynx; voice disorders; auditory-perceptual judgment; meta-analysis; self-evaluation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We sincerely invite you to contribute to the Special Issue “New Advances in the Management of Voice Disorders: 2nd Edition”. The first edition, “Advances in the Management of Voice Disorders”, is avaliable to read at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jcm/special_issues/ZTWR37544F. This Special Issue on voice disorders focuses on research that improves voice assessment and management from the perspective of otolaryngologists or speech-language pathologists.

Voice arises from the precise orchestration of pulmonary airflow and vocal-fold vibration, which together generate the fundamental sound source; this signal is then refined by the supraglottic resonators to yield the nuances of human phonation. Disruptions in any element—whether due to structural anomalies, neuromuscular impairment, or maladaptive vocal behaviors—manifest in various deviations such as loudness, pitch, timbre, resonance balance, and quality. Contemporary evaluation employs a multidimensional framework: high-definition endoscopic visualization, aerodynamic measurement, quantitative acoustic analysis, expert auditory-perceptual rating, and rigorously validated patient-reported outcome instruments. By integrating these modalities, clinicians can delineate the precise nature and severity of dysphonia, laying the groundwork for targeted intervention.

On the therapeutic front, the synergistic application of minimally invasive phonosurgery—such as in-office vocal-fold injections and certain laryngeal framework adjustments—with specified voice therapy protocols has markedly enhanced functional recovery. This combined approach is particularly impactful for complex disorders regarding voice, speech, and hearing. Remaining challenges include the establishment of standardized, objective outcome metrics, the development of age-appropriate pediatric strategies, and the incorporation of artificial-intelligence tools to refine diagnosis and prognostication.

This Special Issue focuses on new advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of voice disorders, including but not limited to the discussion of screening tools. In addition, clinical interventions with high levels of evidence in voice therapy, and voice surgery for voice disorders are also of interest.

Prof. Dr. Ben Barsties v. Latoszek
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • voice disorders
  • laryngology
  • laryngoscope
  • acoustic analysis
  • dysphonia
  • voice surgery
  • diagnosis
  • treatment
  • rehabilitation
  • vocal folds
  • voice assessment/measures

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1214 KB  
Article
The Reliability and Validity of a New Laryngeal Palpation Tool for Static and Dynamic Examination
by Isabelle Bargar, Melina Maria Ippers, Katrin Neumann, Philipp Mathmann and Ben Barsties v. Latoszek
J. Clin. Med. 2025, 14(17), 6309; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm14176309 - 6 Sep 2025
Viewed by 545
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Voice disorders caused by laryngeal hypertension can impact volume, quality, pitch, resonance, flexibility, and stamina. The laryngeal palpation is a tactile-perceptual assessment, which is one of a few examination methods to evaluate laryngeal hypertension. Laryngeal palpation is a manual examination of [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Voice disorders caused by laryngeal hypertension can impact volume, quality, pitch, resonance, flexibility, and stamina. The laryngeal palpation is a tactile-perceptual assessment, which is one of a few examination methods to evaluate laryngeal hypertension. Laryngeal palpation is a manual examination of the extrinsic and paralaryngeal tissues of the larynx (e.g., lateral laryngeal mobility, thyrohyoid and cricothyroid spaces, vertical laryngeal position/mobility, and pain) through the examiner’s fingers. It can be performed during rest (static assessment) or during phonation (dynamic assessment) of the individual being evaluated. This study aimed to validate a novel laryngeal palpation tool with quantitative ordinal scores by assessing its reliability and diagnostic accuracy establishing preliminary clinical cut-off values, and examining its correlations with self-reported voice disorder symptoms. Methods: In a prospective, controlled validation study, 33 participants were selected to assess the validity and reliability of the novel diagnostic tool in a clinical sample and healthy controls. The clinical sample (n = 19) comprised individuals diagnosed with voice disorders, whereas the healthy control group (n = 14) included participants with no history or symptoms of voice pathology. The novel laryngeal palpation tool was employed by two independent examiners to assess both static and dynamic laryngeal function in all participants. In addition, each participant completed the following questionnaires: Voice Handicap Index (VHI-30) with the 30-item, Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI), and the Vocal Tract Discomfort Scale (VTD). Results: Static palpatory assessment of laryngeal tension demonstrated excellent discriminatory power between groups and tension levels (AROC = 0.979), along with high intra-rater (ICC = 0.966) and inter-rater reliability (ICC = 0.866). Significant correlations were revealed between the static palpation results and the VHI scores (r = 0.496; p < 0.01) and VFI (r = 0.514; p < 0.01). For the dynamic evaluation of the palpation tool, comparable results for the validity (AROC = 0.840) and reliability (inter-rater: ICC = 0.800, and intra-rater: ICC = 0.840) were revealed. However, no significant correlations were found between dynamic palpation and self-perceived questionnaires, although some were likely found with static palpation. The validity of the total score was found to be AROC = 0.992. Conclusions: The static and dynamic assessments using the novel laryngeal palpation tool demonstrated promising reliability and diagnostic accuracy, providing initial evidence to support its clinical utility. Further studies are needed to establish broader validation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in the Management of Voice Disorders: 2nd Edition)
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