Phoniatrics

Phoniatrics is a medical specialty focused on disorders of voice, speech, language, and related functions such as swallowing. Practitioners, commonly referred to as phoniatrists, are physicians with training in otolaryngology and allied disciplines who diagnose and treat conditions affecting voice production, articulation, fluency, language development, and deglutition. The field combines clinical assessment with instrumental evaluation and interprofessional rehabilitation, often in collaboration with speech-language pathologists and other specialists.

Clinical areas include dysphonia and hoarseness, voice loss from nodules, polyps, paralysis, or neurological disease; voice and speech disorders in children; aphasia and dysarthria from brain injury or neurodegenerative disease; stuttering and other fluency disorders; and swallowing disorders such as dysphagia. Evaluation typically includes patient history and physical examination, laryngeal endoscopy or stroboscopy, acoustic and aerodynamic voice measures, imaging as needed, and, for swallowing, videofluoroscopic swallow studies or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing.

Treatment is often multidisciplinary. Medical management may address inflammatory or infectious etiologies, reflux, or neurological conditions. Surgical options include lesion removal or augmentation of the vocal folds. Voice therapy, provided by speech-language pathologists, aims to optimize voice use and articulation and to compensate for deficits. For certain movement or voice disorders, pharmacologic or botulinum toxin treatment may be used. Rehabilitation and dietary modifications are part of dysphagia care.

Education and professional status vary by country. In many regions, phoniatrics is a recognized medical subspecialty within otolaryngology or pediatrics, requiring advanced training after medical school. The field maintains close ties with voice science, linguistics, neurology, and communication disorders research, and it contributes to clinical guidelines and training programs for clinicians and therapists.