BACKGROUND

There is today a rapidly expanding population of people whose voices are significantly compromised, if not drastically damaged, because of excessive use, strain and disease.  

In an increasingly communications-based world in which effective oral expression is of paramount importance, a significant number of academics, business executives, clergy, entertainers, lawyers, politicians, statesmen, and others whose communications skills are critical to their professional well-being are suffering from major voice disorders.  Many others have compromised voices because of cancer, other diseases and accidents.    

Over the past 20 years, a rapidly expanding clinical and basic research effort has provided a much better understanding of how the larynx functions, particularly with respect to sound and voice production. This ongoing rapid growth in knowledge is contributing to significant advances in the surgical methods used to treat laryngeal disorders, including, for instance, the development of highly specialized lasers and other surgical instrumentation and techniques.  

As a result, there is now the promise that the voices of individuals with even the most serious damage can be successfully, if not completely, restored and that hoarseness may mostly disappear as a medical condition.  Performing vocalists, lecturers, cancer patients, among others, may well enjoy permanently healthy, full-range voices throughout their lifetimes.        

Key to this possibility is continued focused laryngological research and clinical practice in order to increase and apply the expansive amount of information that is accumulating on the laryngeal mechanism and the treatment of laryngeal disorders.  Significant advances in acoustic and aerodynamic physiology, lasers, biochemistry, biomechanics, imaging, laryngeal phonosurgery, micro-anatomy, and neurophysiology, among other disciplines, are critical.  

Further, laryngology today is optimally practiced in concert with varied medical, surgical, and scientific colleagues who also manage and study the upper aero-digestive tract.  Such specialized information has catalyzed extensive collaborations with colleagues whose skill sets fall well outside of the typical knowledge base that underlies the general practice of laryngology.  

Established in 2003, the Institute of Laryngology and Voice Restoration seeks to serve as a center of excellence in systemically correcting voice disorders and altering substantially current practice paradigms in laryngology.