Bilateral In-Office Injection Laryngoplasty as an Adjunctive Treatment for Recalcitrant Puberphonia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

J Voice. 2016 Mar;30(2):221-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2015.03.019. Epub 2015 Jun 2.

Abstract

Puberphonia or mutational falsetto is a voice disorder seen in male adolescents. It is defined as the failure of the voice to change from the high pitch of early childhood to the low pitch of adulthood. Puberphonia is usually treated with voice therapy (with or without adjunctive laryngeal manipulation) and psychological counseling. Small series of surgical treatments have also been described. We present the first report of bilateral in-office injection laryngoplasty with hyaluronic acid with voice therapy to treat a 22-year-old male with puberphonia that had not responded to voice therapy. The subject presented with a speaking fundamental frequency of 152 Hz, which decreased to 102 Hz immediately after bilateral injection laryngoplasty and has been maintained at 108 Hz after 24 months.

Keywords: In-office injection laryngoplasty; Mutational falsetto; Puberphonia.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Ambulatory Surgical Procedures*
  • Humans
  • Hyaluronic Acid / administration & dosage*
  • Injections
  • Laryngoplasty / methods*
  • Laryngoscopy
  • Male
  • Speech Acoustics*
  • Speech Production Measurement
  • Stroboscopy
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Video Recording
  • Vocal Cords / physiopathology
  • Vocal Cords / surgery*
  • Voice Disorders / diagnosis
  • Voice Disorders / physiopathology
  • Voice Disorders / surgery*
  • Voice Quality*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Hyaluronic Acid