The Hoarse Patient

Abstract

Hoarseness is a change in quality of the voice—a roughening—usually with a drop in pitch. Although as a symptom hoarseness covers too many conditions to be diagnostic in itself, it is a symptom worth listening for.

The causes of hoarseness have been classified into four major groups: local laryngeal, peripheral or central nervous system, endocrine, and functional. The author considers these causes by age groups, discussing disorders which produce hoarseness in the newborn period, infancy, childhood and adulthood.