Voice Program

The Voice Program at Lurie Children’s is dedicated to treating voice conditions in pediatric patients. Our team is experienced in evaluating and treating voice conditions with a family-friendly approach​. The most common of these voice conditions is hoarseness. Hoarseness in children can be caused vocal cord nodules, vocal cord cysts, vocal cord paralysis, laryngeal papillomas (rare non-cancerous growths), intubation history during the newborn period, or prior airway, neck or chest surgeries.


The Lurie Children’s Difference

This multidisciplinary program is the only one of its kind in the Chicago metropolitan area and offers extensive airway surgery expertise and resources. Skilled speech and language pathologists collaborate with our otolaryngologist and specialized nurse to provide top-quality care to children with voice conditions.

What to Expect

Evaluation and treatment is handled by a team with strong clinical experience in how the voice relates to swallowing and breathing. We develop a customized treatment plan for comprehensive care of each patient and their specific needs, based on our evaluation findings. Our team is experienced in evaluating swallowing problems and velopharyngeal insufficiency (a faulty closing of the soft palate muscle in the mouth during speech that allows air to escape through the nose instead of the mouth). Our experts incorporate voice-specific technology designed for children for the most thorough examinations possible. We also offer skilled pediatric-specific speech therapy with several voice-focused speech and language pathologists, who specialize in voice disorders.

In the situations where surgery is the most appropriate treatment, most of the procedures can be performed endoscopically (through the mouth without any skin incisions), and in some children, the procedures might be done in an outpatient setting.

Our Specialists

The program’s team includes an otolaryngologist, voice program nurse and several speech and language pathologists. The program is led by Jonathan Ida, MD, Attending Physician, Otolaryngology and Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Make an Appointment

The Voice Program is currently held at our main hospital location. Voice evaluations are also offered at our New Lenox and Westchester outpatient centers.

If you’d like to request an appointment with one of our specialists please:

  • Fill out our online Appointment Request Form, we will call you within 24-48 hours to schedule an appointment OR
  • Contact 1.800.KIDS DOC (1.800.543.7362) OR
  • For existing Lurie Children's or Town and Country Pediatrics patients, log in to MyChart to schedule your own new or return appointment for some specialties