Psycho-social aspects of functional dysphonia

The study was designed as a two-stage project. In the first phase a sample dysphonia patients were examined thoroughly in respect of important etiopathogenetic factors mentioned in the relevant literature. In the second phase presented here a total of 45 patients with functional dysphonia were examined by means of standardized questionnaires and a newly-constructed interview. The results were compared to a group of normals matched for age, sex and voice strain. As hypothesized, these results suggest that functional dysphonia is correlated with less openmindedness, intensive voice strain, an array of psycho-physiological complaints and psycho-social strain factors.