 HONOLULU (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Thousands of people every year struggle with a hoarse or weak voice, not really knowing what's causing it. Now, taking a good long listen to yourself may be just what the doctor ordered.
Most of us take our voices for granted. But taking a good long listen to your voice could give you some clues to serious conditions like acid reflux disease or nerve damage.  "Other problems have to do with mass lesions like cancers and stuff on the vocal cords," says otolaryngologist Michael Holtel, M.D.
Dr. Holtel, from Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, is using a new high-tech camera that records how vocal cords move at 2,000 frames per second. "You'll never see those fine waves just by examining somebody with a standard scope or standard camera."
But that's not where the research stops. Biomedical engineer Yuling Yan, Ph.D., from the University of Hawaii, says, "Sometimes patients come to complain about voice problems, and it is difficult for the clinician to decide if they need any treatment."
  Yan has developed this micro-plot system to interpret those high-speed images. Here's a plot of a cyst that could indicate cancer. Here it is after treatment.
"By being more precise in our diagnosis, we can better treat the patient, and that's really, I think, what we're hoping for with this," Dr. Holtel says.
Doctors say sounds to listen for to know if you're in need of a vocal check-up include hoarseness, loss of vocal range, and loss of volume.
 Yan says a better understanding of how the voice is produced might help doctors find problems before any physical signs appear. For example, she says there may be no clues on the surface of the larynx, but high-speed imaging could indicate something like laryngeal cancer at a very early stage.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Les Ozawa
Tripler Army Medical Center
1 Jarrett White Road
Tripler AMC, HI 96859-5000
(808) 433-3658
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