Intrinsic laryngeal muscle activity in a spastic dysphonia patient

EMG activity from four intrinsic laryngeal muscles (thyroarytenoid, posterior cricoarytenoid, interarytenoid, and cricothyroid) was obtained from one female spastic dysphonia patient while she performed a variety of speech and nonspeech tasks. These tasks were performed before and during a period of temporary unilateral laryngeal muscle paralysis. In the nonparalyzed condition, adductory muscle activity showed intermittent sudden increases that coincided with momentary voice arrests. These muscle patterns and accompanying voice interruptions were not present either when speech was produced in falsetto register or at anytime during the paralysis condition. The data suggest that individuals with this type of spastic dysphonia have normal morphology of recurrent laryngeal nerves and intrinsic laryngeal muscles, which means that the triggering mechanism(s) for spastic dysphonia symptoms must be located at some point neurologically upstream from the larynx.