2008 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 93-98
The term “voice therapy”, which is commonly called “onsei-chiryou” in Japanese, includes vocal rest, vocal hygiene, and vocal modification training. In this paper the focus of the discussion was on vocal modification training, which is called “onsei-kunren” in Japanese. In most cases, speech therapists should be responsible for vocal modification training. The purposes, conditions for application, and 6 categories of the training were proposed. Among the categories, the rationale and training procedures for the modification of loudness, pitch, and voice quality were explained concisely. In order to demonstrate some clinical results of the efficiencies of vocal modification training, previously presented results for cases of functional voice disorders, vocal nodules of children, and spasmodic voice disorders were reported. Finally, 5 essential issues when conducting voice therapy were pointed out. They were ; (1) establishing the criteria for the application of therapy, (2) developing the technical skills with the theoretical bases, (3) the effort to assess therapy outcomes objectively, (4) an efficient team approach with medical doctors and speech therapists, and (5) to provide the patients with warm and helpful advice to reduce their psychological and social problems with voice disorders.
