Voice initiation characteristics of normal children and children with vocal nodules: a preliminary investigation.

Three types of vocal initiation (hard, soft, breathy) were produced by eight normal speaking children and eight children with vocal nodules. The results of the acoustic and aerodynamic measurements indicated systematically longer rise time values and greater air volumes during the initial few hundred milliseconds of phonation for vocal nodule children when compared with the normal speaking children across the three initiation conditions. A significant difference between the two groups was found for the amount of air volume expired in the first 200 msec of hard vocal initiation. Clinical implications of the results suggest reducing the abnormal glottal attack and abusive speaking habits of children with laryngeal dysfunction.