Abstract
In elderly people, vocal folds are bowed without clinically noticeable organic or functional lesions. In this study, histological examination of such bowing was made, using 64 normal human larynges, with ages ranging from 70 to 104 years old.
The results were summarized as follows : 1) The degree of bowing of the vocal fold was found to increase with age in males. 2) Decrease in the thickness of the lamina propria, especially the superficial layer, of the vocal fold was the cause of bowing. 3) No definite relationship between the thyroarytenoid muscle and degree of bowing was determined. 4) Bowing of aged vocal folds was a geriatric change causing glottic incompetence with consequent voice disorders and was, at least, one of the etiologies of aging of the voice.
