Clinical Assessment of Elderly Vocal Folds by Laryngoscopy

Abstract

Laryngoscopy is an effective examination for assessing the morphological features of age-related vocal folds. In addition, disease-associated changes in the vocal folds in elderly people can also be diagnosed. Vocal fold atrophy is commonly identified as vocal fold bowing, which is characterized as a concaved edge of the vocal folds. The other typical disorder caused by atrophic changes in age-related vocal folds is sulcus vocalis. These changes are attributed to the volume reduction and degeneration of the extracellular matrix in the lamina propria in addition to atrophy of the intralaryngeal muscles. Stroboscopy is a useful and reliable method for examining vocal fold vibration. The reduced amplitude, aperiodic, and asymmetric vibration as along with the glottal gap are generally observed in elderly people with vocal fold atrophy. As such, both laryngoscopy and stroboscopy are better techniques not only to diagnose age-related vocal fold disorders, but also to evaluate disease-specific treatment.