Laryngeal Function Examination

Watching my friends’ face quiver in disgust after recounting my experience of a videofluoroscopicy and my excitement from viewing the barium travel through the oropharyngeal and pharyngeal phases of swallowing, I realized I wanted to study the extraordinary field of Communication Sciences and Disorders. During my undergraduate career at East Carolina University, my anatomy and physiology class further fostered my enthusiasm for the field when discovering how intricate and complex it is for the human body to perform a simple task such as breathing and swallowing. I was able to utilize my thirst for knowledge of the human anatomy working in Dr. Perry’s Speech Imaging and Visualization Laboratory and enhance my writing skills by reviewing peer reviewed journal articles. Ultimately working and observing lab assistants create 3D anatomical models of the laryngeal mechanism, velopharyngeal mechanism, swallowing mechanism, skull and cranium,

As an eight year old student, I entered the annual science fair at school. The subject I chose to observe and research for my project was the human vocal chords. Collectively, my mom, a speech pathologist, and I sat down and watched videos that she had of her own vocal chords being activated and used for communication through speech and language. I was intrigued by the way that they worked and the way they were used to enable communication. My mom taught me about her work as a speech pathologist and how she had studied the vocal chords specifically to help her with the ability to train others who had speech and language impairments and communication disabilities. It was through my research and careful observation of the way that the vocal

Some of the duties of a speech pathologist are, but are not limited to, evaluate patients’ levels of speech, language, or swallowing difficulty, identify treatment options, teach patients how to make sounds and improve their voices, work with patients to develop and strengthen the muscles used to swallow, and counsel patients and families on how to cope with communication and swallowing disorders (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015). ‘If the speech-language pathologists work in medical facilities, they work with physicians and surgeons, social workers, psychologists, and other healthcare workers’ (Duties, www.bls.org, 2015).

At rest and during speech, X showed symmetry in her lips and face. She was a nose breather and showed adequate range of motion for lips and jaw during speech. X demonstrated adequate tongue-jaw and lip-jaw dissociation. She demonstrated sufficient lip strength and was able to produce a tight labial seal. X presented with adequate range of motion of her tongue as noted by her ability to protrude and retract the tongue, create lateral tongue wags, and elevate the tongue tip. She presented with difficulty when fully encircling her lips with her tongue. The client’s dentition was unremarkable.

Mouth. Oropharynx absent of lesions and/ or exudates. Mucus membranes, gingivae pink and moist. Upper and lower teeth are present. Multiple fillings in good repair. Tongue pink and smooth. Protrudes midline. No abnormal movements/ tremor noted.

Speech pathology focuses on aiding individuals who struggle with or cannot use their voice. Without a voice, individuals would not be able to communicate with one another face to face, or even talk on the phone. Within every field, controversy exists. In speech pathology, one such controversy is nonspeech oral motor exercises (NSOME), where a patient does different tasks involving their mouth or fingers. These exercises are believed to have no connection with actually assisting the speech pathological part of the brain, since they do not involve any sort of speech activity. Nonspeech oral motor exercises do not assist in the healing process of patients with actual disabilities, nor are they an efficient practice at a professional treatment center.

Main Question Post: Week 5 Discussion -- Review of Case Study #2: Focused Throat Exam

Patients with MG are at a high risk for silent aspiration. Literature has demonstrated that silent aspiration occurs in approximately 50% of those with MG who aspirate (Higo, Nito, Tayama, 2005). Colton-Hudson reported silent aspiration in 4 out of 7 patients (2005). Kluin et al studied 8 elderly men with MG and found silent aspiration in 5 out of 8 patients (1996).Due to the high incidence of silent aspiration instrumental evaluation of the swallow is suggested for patients with MG. In most instances cholinesterase inhibitor medication provides improvement in the patient’s swallow. Colton et al reports that active exercise to maximize the strength of the oropharyngeal muscles are generally limited by fatigability and not recommended for dysphagia associated with MG (2002). Chewing and swallowing functions may be improved by the administration of cholinesterase inhibitor medication one hour prior to the meal. Speech-language pathologist can educate patients on taking medication in conjunction with meal times. Other compensatory strategies can be implemented following instrumental swallowing evaluation. The swallowing quality of life scale (SWAL-QOL) could be used for patient reported measure of functioning for dysphagia. The SWAL-QOL has demonstrated strong internal consistency and strong test re-test reliability (McHorney et al, 2002). This test would be beneficial for intervention planning because it

Dysphagia is a disorder that is characterized by difficulty swallowing, causing aspiration which, in result, causes many other life threatening sicknesses. Nearly 15 million adults in the United States are affected by dysphagia. Dysphagia and aspiration may cause complications such as malnutrition, pneumonia, dehydration, pulmonary fibrosis, and even death (Blumenfeld, Hahn, Lepage, Leonard, & Belafsky, 2006). Another common illness related to swallowing disorders is presbyphagia. Presbyphagia is when the function of swallowing changes as one ages (Pede, Mantovani, Felice, & Masiero, 2015). This disorder affects both the oropharyngeal and esophageal phases of swallowing; oropharyngeal and esophageal are terms that can be operationalized

For class requirements for her master’s degree in speech language pathology, Jennifer Allison, from Southern Illinois University, researched the advantages and disadvantages of using FEES (fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing) versus videofluroscopy (such as VFSS, or Modified Barium Swallow (MBS)). There has been a lack of research to determine the gold-standard for assessing dysphagia especially for the pediatric population. VFSS and FEES can be compared based on each procedure’s ability to enable feedback during intervention, assess sensory threshold, evaluate and diagnose GER, provide patient comfort, and assess a wide range of appropriate candidates.

Imagine a hacking cough that sounds so hoarse that it would be scary for an adult, but with from a child. A child’s health is the most important thing to most parents and when something comes up that isn’t in a parent’s control it’s terrifying. There are a lot of diseases that just appear but there aren’t quite as many that only children are susceptible to. Laryngotracheobronchitis is one of the rare diseases that only gets caught by children and it’s important to be aware of what it is, the symptoms of it, and how to take care of it.

Dysphagia is a swallowing disorder that is described as an abnormality in transferring a solid or liquid bolus from the oral cavity to the stomach (Bernard, Loeslie, & Rabatin, 2015). With a diagnosis of dysphagia, a patient will likely aspirate foods and/or liquids of different consistencies. Aspiration is “the entry of food or liquid into the airway below the true vocal folds” (Logemann, 1998, p. 5). Specifically, thin liquid dysphagia occurs when a patient aspirates while consuming any liquids that are not thickened, such as water. Patients with thin-liquid dysphagia are often prescribed a modified thickened liquid-only diet, meaning they consume liquids that are thickened to a greater consistency of nectar, honey, or pudding (Carlaw et al., 2007). An increased viscosity reduces the flow rate of a bolus, makes it more cohesive, and is easier for many people to control intraorally, thus preventing spillage into the airway (Murray, Miller, Doeltgen, & Scholten, 2013). Dysphagia can also contribute to the occurrence of aspiration pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia occurs “when organisms infiltrate the lower respiratory tract during an episode of aspiration and the

In this paper we examine the viscoelastic laryngeal muscle model with active components described in the paper by (Smith, Hunter, 2014). We attempt model muscle behavior of from studies on active and passive characteristics of canine cricothyroid muscles (Alipour, Titze, 1999). Muscle mechanics include both passive and active properties. The passive mechanical force in muscle tissue is produced by the resistance of elastin and collagen fibers in the soft tissue as the muscle is stretched. This force is dependent solely on muscle strain and increases nonlinearly with increasing strain. Passive tissue displays viscoelastic properties such as rate dependence, hysteresis, stress relaxation, and creep. On the other hand, active muscle

Depending of the severity, diagnosing laryngeal cleft requires multiple diagnostic methods implements such as, functional endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES) and/or modified barium swallow (MBS). However, both FEES and MBS do not account for all levels of swallowing and may produce normal results when there may be a problem. Therefore, specialists have deemed the gold standard for the diagnosis as microlaryngoscopy under general anesthesia. This procedure allows for professionals to get a closer and in depth look look at the larynx

This means that air does not pass through the vocal cords and so speech is not possible. Sometimes patients can have a tracheostomy tube that allows some air to go through the vocal chords and out of the mouth. Patients can have this type of tube if they are able to swallow without difficulty and if they do not need a tracheostomy tube with an inflated cuff in order to get air into the lungs.