I've had AD-SD for 5 years and I just found this group. Because my SD isn't too bad I have decided not to take botox shots. But I'm still looking for things that will help. I do a great deal of voice exercises such as those published by Morton Cooper and David McClosky. Slightly different approaches but both very helpful.

Do any of you, especially singers, performers and professional voice users, think your SD was precipitated by many years of misuse of the voice? I do, in my case. I've been a rock singer for 25 years. (No, you haven't heard of me, unfortunately...) Do any of you have doctors (ENTs) who are sympathetic to the "vocal abuse" theory?

I was a teacher for 25 years - and therefore a professional voice user.

My opinion, and it's backed up by attendance at several NSDA symposiums listening to experts talk about SD, and extensive reading from respected voice professionals and considerable discussion with fellow patients, is that SD is not the result of vocal abuse, either deliberate in the sense that a rock singer, for example, would be reaching for a particular sound, or unintentional.

SD is the voice that results from laryngeal dystonia, a neurological movement disorder. The root of the problem is that the brain is mis-signaling instructions to the vocal cords.

In many cases SD is hard to diagnose, and difficult to differentiate from muscle tension dysphonia (MTD). Speech therapy or voice exercises do help resolve that condition.

Good luck with your voice exercises.

Good you found us.

I was a *professional voice user* also. Being a career corporate software quality manager, I had to talk *on-the-job* about 7 hours a day non-stop, out of a 10-12 hour workday. Couldn't do my job without talking all day long, every day. In the corporate world, nobody understands the "quality" (TQM - Deming) concept so I was constantly having to explain it, above and beyond having to talk all day long just dealing with people.

But, I never felt like I was blowing out or over-stressing my voice (as one might have to do if they were singing or yelling or over-projecting). Just had to talk all day, with the technical people who worked for me, or with my boss/peers or in project meetings, representing major big-$$$ software projects, or various negotiations, etc. All requirements of the job.

We see the full range of cases on the BB, and some of them are "vocal abuse," rather than SD. SD is neurological.

SD is not caused by vocal abuse, but several other vocal disorders are definitely caused by vocal abuse. Some of those even "sound like" SD. Makes it difficult for the diagnosticians to differentiate. Thus, if you think your case may be due to vocal abuse, speech therapy (sources you suggest) might help you alot. Also, if so, might be good to get a second opinion, as it may not be SD. There are numerous other "dysphonias" (layperson's translation: *voice doesn't work right*) which sound like SD, but are not.