Introduction:
Mutational falsetto is also commonly known as Puberphonia. This condition is caused due to the failure of the voice to drop in its pitch from the higher levels after puberty. These patients hence suffer from lack of resonance in voice, breathiness of voice and lack of pitch variations. These patients have easy fatigability of voice and are unable to raise their voice in noisy environments.
This condition is caused due psychological problems in the patient which prevents lowering of the pitch of the voice of an adolesecent to that of a adult range. Puberphonia is more common in adolescent males and may also occur rarely in females.
The following are the probable psychological factors that could lead to the developement of puberphonia:
1. Over identification of the affected boy with his mother
2. Failure of the boy to accept his adult male role
3. Social immaturity
4. Anxiety to maintain a Soprano voice
5. Incordination of muscles of vocalization
Surgical management of Puberphonia:
When all the above conservative methods fail then surgery will have to be resorted to. Isshiki type III relaxation thyroplasty has shown promise in managing these patients. This surgical procedure lowered the pitch of voice in these patients by shortening the length of the vocal folds. In the classic Isshiki type III thyroplasty 2 – 3 mm of vertical strips of cartilage were excised on each side of midline of thyroid cartilage. This procedure caused retrusion of the middle portion of the thyroid cartilage causing a reduction in the length of the vocal folds.
Various modifications of Type III Ishikki thyroplasty have been proposed.
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