Kids with husky voices and vocal nodules

Does your child have a husky voice?

Our Speech Pathologists work with kids using Voice Therapy!

This article covers how voice is made, vocal nodules, and what SP’s can do to help children with nodules.

Kids who yell frequently can be at risk of harming their voice, which can be heard through huskiness, loss of voice, or voice breaks. (voice cutting out)

How is voice made?

Voice is created when air is blown through the Vocal cords which are very small pieces of tissue located in the larynx or voice box.

To give you an idea, the vocal cords of an adult male are between 1.75cm and 2.5cm in length, an adult female’s vocal cords are typically between 1.25 and 1.75cms and the vocal cords of children are much smaller.

The air from our lungs blows through these vocal cords causing them to come together in a wave. This happens very quickly with about 300 cycles of this wave occurs every second that a child uses their voice.

So, vocal cords are some of the smallest but hardest working tissues in the body.

Unfortunately, vocal cords so delicate and so hard working sometimes things can go wrong which leads to problems with the voice.

The most common voice issue we see in children is vocal nodules.

What are vocal nodules?

Vocal nodules are bumps like calluses on the vocal cords.

They are typically created when the voice is used in a way which brings the vocal cords together in a rough manner, which is usually through yelling with constriction in the muscles surrounding the voice box.

The presence of vocal nodules results in a voice which can sound breathy or husky and may cut out after extended use.

What is the solution?

Vocal rest can help, but children need to be able to raise their voices to fully participate daily life – for example calling out to warm someone of danger or calling to their friends from across the playground.

Speech Pathologists can help by teaching children strategies to use their voice in a safe way so that they can still get the volume and projection that they need but without damage to their vocal cords.

When these strategies are implemented in daily life, vocal nodules can fade within 6 to 12 weeks.

Our Speech Pathologist Kaitlin is trained in the Voicecraft^® program, which provides a practical, step-by-step process for the restoration and optimisation of the voice in adults and children.

If you have any concerns about the quality of your child’s voice, give our team at Cooee Speech Pathology a call and book in for an assessment.