Voice & Resonance Disorders

Voice and resonance disorders may occur from birth or may be acquired at a later age. Typically, these are problems of pitch, volume or quality of the voice. They can be distracting to listeners and sometimes painful to the child speaking.

Some causes include a cleft palate, childhood apraxia of speech, enlargement of the adenoids and some neurological problems.

They may result in hypernasal resonance — when the voice sounds too “nasal,” hyponasal — when the voice sounds “stuffy,” air escaping through the nose while speaking — making consonants difficult, compensatory misarticulation — inserting sounds such as grunt, growls or snorts while speaking.