What are the causes of aphonia?

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What are the causes of aphonia?

Aphonia is considered a functional voice disorder. People who have functional aphonia are fine physically. They may have lost their voice because they aren’t using their voice normally.

Using your voice normally may look easy but in reality relies on careful coordination between your respiratory system, your larynx, throat, nose and mouth.

  • Your respiratory system drives airflow that powers your voice. If you’re not breathing properly, you may have trouble using your voice.
  • Your larynx (voice box) houses your vocal cords, which are also called vocal folds. Your larynx has a set of muscles called the phonatory muscles. These muscles move your vocal cords together. When air from your lungs flows past your vocal folds, they begin to vibrate, creating sound waves. (Think how a breeze can make a wind chime ring.)
  • Those sound waves travel through your throat, nose and mouth. These are called resonating cavities.

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