Tamilnadu's First Exclusive Laryngology Center

• Hoarseness or voice change lasting more than 2–3 weeks
• Voice fatigue, reduced vocal range, or difficulty projecting your voice
• Throat discomfort, tightness, or pain while speaking or swallowing
• History of voice overuse, especially if you're a singer, teacher, public speaker, or professional voice user
• Sudden voice loss, especially after a scream, illness, or vocal trauma
• Recurrent or persistent voice issues that interfere with your work or daily life
• Swallowing problems, choking episodes, aspiration, or food/liquid entering the airway
• Patients on a Ryle's tube, for any reason—such as after a stroke, head and neck cancer, neurological issues, or severe swallowing dysfunction—especially when swallowing recovery is slow and tube removal is difficult
• Chronic cough, frequent throat clearing, or a persistent lump-in-the-throat sensation
• Breathing difficulties such as noisy breathing, stridor, or shortness of breath related to airway narrowing
• Patients with a tracheostomy tube, regardless of the underlying cause. A laryngologist plays a crucial role in protocol-based decannulation. This ensures that the tube can be removed safely and at the right time, reducing risks and helping the patient return to normal breathing and voice.

An ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist) is a doctor trained to treat a wide range of conditions involving the ears, nose, throat, head, and neck. Their practice covers everything from sinus issues and ear infections to tonsils, thyroid problems, and general throat conditions.

A Laryngologist is an ENT who has undergone additional, advanced fellowship training specifically in:

• Voice disorders
• Airway problems (including tracheostomy care and decannulation)
• Swallowing disorders
• Vocal fold paralysis and mobility disorders
• Professional voice care (singers, teachers, speakers)
• Complex airway reconstruction
• Neurolaryngology

In short:

• ENT = Broad specialist for ear, nose, and throat conditions
• Laryngologist = Super-specialist focused on voice, airway, and swallowing problems

If you have hoarseness, voice changes, breathing issues, swallowing difficulty, or require tracheostomy or Ryle’s tube management, a laryngologist is the best specialist to evaluate and treat you.

If your voice loss is associated with fever, cold, or a viral infection, you can start with voice rest, hydration, and simple symptomatic care. Most acute infections resolve on their own in the first few days without antibiotics. However, you should see a laryngologist if:

• Your voice does not return to normal within 2–3 weeks
• You have suddenly lost your voice after shouting or screaming (possible vocal fold injury)
• You are a professional voice user—singer, teacher, or public speaker—and need an early and accurate diagnosis

A specialist evaluation, including stroboscopy, helps identify vocal fold bleeding, swelling, injury, paralysis, or other conditions that may require targeted treatment.

In short: initial rest is fine for viral or mild causes, but persistent or sudden severe voice loss needs early laryngology evaluation.

Yes. Voice therapy is highly effective in improving voice quality and correcting harmful voice habits. It is different from general speech therapy—voice therapy focuses specifically on how your vocal folds, breath, and resonance work together to produce sound.

Voice therapy is useful for both habilitation and rehabilitation:

• Habilitation: teaching you how to use your voice correctly from the start—improving breathing, resonance, projection, and efficiency so you use your voice in the best possible way for your anatomical structure.
• Rehabilitation: restoring normal voice after an illness, injury, surgery, or misuse; retraining the muscles and correcting tension patterns such as muscle tension dysphonia, including cases that develop after surgery.

Voice therapy helps you:

• Balance breathing with phonation effort
• Improve resonance, clarity, and projection
• Reduce strain, fatigue, and voice breaks
• Reach your optimal vocal potential
• Recover and stabilise the voice after injury or surgery

Many patients notice significant improvement with voice therapy alone. Your laryngologist will advise whether therapy, medication, or other treatments are required.

Laryngologists perform specialised surgeries focused on the voice, airway, and swallowing.

Common surgeries include:

• Microlaryngeal surgeries: For nodules, polyps, cysts, granulomas, Reinke's edema, and other lesions, performed using high-precision microflap techniques with meticulous microdissection to preserve the delicate vocal fold layers.
• Surgeries for vocal fold mobility disorders: For paralysis or weakness, including injection laryngoplasty, medialisation thyroplasty, arytenoid adduction, and reinnervation surgeries (including the latest nerve reinnervation techniques) to restore long-term tone and function.
• Airway surgeries: For airway narrowing such as subglottic stenosis, tracheal stenosis, and bilateral vocal fold paresis, including procedures like Kashima's posterior cordectomy, laser/coblation-assisted airway widening, dilatation, and endoscopic airway reconstruction.
• Tracheostomy care and decannulation procedures: Comprehensive airway assessment and protocol-based decannulation, along with surgeries that optimise the airway for safe removal of the tube.
• Swallowing-related procedures: Including FEES (Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing), VFSS (Video Fluoroscopic Swallow Study), Botox injections for upper esophageal sphincter dysfunction, and surgeries for structural or neurological causes of dysphagia and aspiration.
• Management of laryngeal trauma and nerve injuries: For both acute and chronic injuries affecting breathing or voice.
• Laser/Coblation surgeries: For papillomas, webs, scars, early cancers, and various laryngeal lesions, using precision laser or coblation technology to minimise tissue damage.

Laryngologists specialise in delicate, high-precision procedures that directly affect how you breathe, voice, and swallow, ensuring the safest and best possible functional outcomes.

Yes. Voice surgery today is extremely safe, especially in the hands of a trained laryngologist. The field has evolved tremendously over the years. Today, most modern voice surgeries are performed through the mouth using a direct laryngoscope and magnification, enabling the surgeon to visualise the vocal fold layers in exceptional detail.

Unlike earlier times - when techniques were less refined and offered limited visualization - modern phonosurgery focuses on precision and preservation. Today, surgery is performed with utmost care, using precision micro-dissection and microflap techniques to remove only the diseased tissue while safeguarding healthy structures. This minimizes trauma, ensures accuracy, and promotes faster recovery, helping patients regain normal function sooner, especially in structural lesions.

Thanks to advanced technology—high-definition stroboscopy and state-of-the-art endoscopy systems that support accurate diagnosis—and the use of precision micro-instruments with meticulous surgical techniques, voice surgery today is very safe and designed to protect your natural voice.

Recovery after voice surgery:

Recovery after voice surgery is generally quick, especially with modern, minimally-invasive techniques. Immediately after surgery, there may be some swelling of the vocal fold tissues, which usually settles over 1–2 weeks as the initial healing phase completes. Full recovery of the voice—where all swelling resolves and the vocal fold layers return to normal vibration—may take up to 4–6 weeks. Stroboscopically normal vibration also typically returns within this 4–6-week period.

Most patients are advised strict voice rest for the first 2–3 days, followed by relative voice rest with gentle, confidential voicing for about two weeks. After this period, normal voice use can gradually resume. Singing and full voice projection can also begin slowly after two weeks, though complete recovery continues up to six weeks.

Generally, there are no restrictions on returning to work—even as early as the next day—or on eating, showering, or continuing routine daily activities.

Recovery timelines can vary from patient to patient and also depend on the specific type of surgery performed. Voice therapy may be recommended to optimise healing, reduce muscle tension, and restore efficient voicing.

Every case is unique, but with proper care and guidance, most people quickly return to normal voice smoothly and safely.

Stroboscopy is a specialised test that shows the vocal cords in slow motion using a high-definition endoscope and a strobe light. Since the vocal folds vibrate more than 100–200 times per second, this slow-motion view reveals how each layer vibrates—something a routine ENT endoscopy cannot show.

When a regular endoscopy appears normal, stroboscopy can still detect subtle changes such as early nodules or cysts or polyps, mucosal stiffness, scarring, sulcus, or muscle tension dysphonia. It also provides detailed information on mucosal wave, symmetry, and glottic closure.

For anyone with persistent hoarseness—and especially for singers, teachers, and other professional voice users—stroboscopy is the gold-standard test. It guides accurate diagnosis, appropriate treatment, and helps monitor recovery after therapy or surgery.

Singing Endoscopy is a specialised examination where the vocal cords, larynx, pharynx, and nasopharynx are assessed while the patient sings or performs specific voice tasks. Using a high-definition flexible endoscope passed through the nose, it shows real-time vocal fold vibration, laryngeal transitions, resonance changes, and how the surrounding structures behave—information that a routine endoscopy cannot provide.

This test also helps evaluate resonance changes and the overall vocal tract behaviour during singing or specialised voice use. It is particularly useful for singers, voice actors, teachers, and other professional voice users who experience problems only while singing or only in certain registers, identifying issues such as laryngeal constriction, pharyngeal squeeze, collapse at high pitches, muscle tension, technique-related strain, and register transition difficulties.

Because the patient can see the examination live, real-time correction of singing technique and resonance is possible, helping guide precise, customised singing-focused voice therapy.

Not every voice problem requires a stroboscopy, but it is highly recommended whenever hoarseness or voice change lasts longer than 2–3 weeks, or when the cause of the problem is unclear. A routine ENT endoscopy shows the general structure of the throat, but it cannot assess the vibration of the vocal folds. Stroboscopy provides a slow-motion view of how the vocal cord layers actually move, allowing us to detect subtle issues that may be missed otherwise.

You may especially need a stroboscopy if you are a singer, teacher, public speaker, or professional voice user, or if your symptoms keep recurring. It helps in making an accurate diagnosis, guiding proper treatment, and monitoring recovery after therapy or surgery.

In many cases, a stroboscopy is the most precise and informative test for understanding persistent or complex voice problems.

No, most hoarse voices do not need surgery. Many voice changes are caused by temporary conditions such as viral infections, allergies, reflux, vocal overuse, or muscle tension, and these usually improve with rest, hydration, medication, and voice therapy.

Surgery is required only when there is a structural problem on the vocal cords—such as a cyst, significant polyp, scar, sulcus, papilloma, or certain cases of vocal fold paralysis—that does not improve with conservative treatment.

A detailed laryngeal examination, ideally with stroboscopy, helps determine the exact cause of hoarseness and whether surgery is truly necessary. In most cases, treatment is tailored, conservative, and focused on restoring healthy vocal function without surgery unless clearly indicated.

Yes, children can safely undergo voice evaluation and, when needed, voice therapy. Many children experience hoarseness due to vocal misuse, excessive shouting, prolonged crying, allergies, infections, or habits that strain the voice. A proper evaluation—including a gentle endoscopic examination and, if needed, stroboscopy—helps identify whether the problem is due to behaviour, muscle tension, or a structural issue.

Voice therapy in children focuses on correcting unhealthy voice habits, improving breath support, reducing strain, and guiding them toward healthy vocal behaviours. It is customised to their age and comfort level and is safe, effective, and play-based when required.

Most paediatric voice problems improve with the right guidance, early evaluation, and consistent therapy when indicated.

To facilitate an optimal examination and ensure an accurate assessment, it is advisable to observe a few simple precautions.

• There is no requirement for fasting, but it is better to avoid heavy meals for 1–2 hours before the examination so that the procedure feels more comfortable.
• Avoid unnecessary voice strain on the day of the appointment.
• If you are a singer or professional voice user, be prepared to perform specific voice tasks or scales during the exam.
• Inform the doctor if you have a sensitive gag reflex, nausea, nasal blockage, or any history of allergies, especially to medications or nasal sprays, so the examination can be planned accordingly.
• Bring any previous reports, voice recordings, or previous stroboscopy videos if available.

After the examination, avoid foods for half hour.

There will be no after effects post endoscopy. Driving/work/other activities can be resumed immediately after the endoscopy.

Swallowing Endoscopy (FEES – Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing)

Swallowing endoscopy is a quick and safe test used to see how well you swallow. It is done in the clinic and does not require anesthesia or fasting.

• A very thin, flexible camera is gently passed through one nostril.
• This camera lets the doctor see your throat and voice box from inside.
• You will then be asked to swallow small amounts of food or liquids (often coloured for better visibility).
• The doctor watches how the food moves, whether it goes the right way into the food pipe, and if any of it "slips" toward the airway.

This test helps identify if there is weakness, delay, or misdirection during swallowing and guides the right treatment or therapy.

If needed, your doctor may also suggest a videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS)—an X-ray movie of your swallowing—to get more detailed information.