Trauma to the larynx can come from within — an endotracheal tube placed under anesthesia — or from outside, through blunt force or surgical injury to the neck. Either way, the delicate balance of tension, length, and symmetry between the two vocal cords can be permanently altered, affecting pitch, volume, and the ability to project or yell. Understanding what went wrong — and what can still be improved — requires precise endoscopic and imaging evaluation.
◆ Intubation Injuries
Julia Achen woke from back surgery with a voice she no longer recognized. An endotracheal tube placed under anesthesia had torn her right vocal cord, and it healed with less tension than the left. Her surgeon assumed it would resolve on its own — it never did.
◆ After a Neck Surgery
Johnny Argent’s emergency airway procedure saved his life — but the tube left through the cricothyroid space too long allowed bone to bridge the cricothyroid joint. He lost his falsetto and his ability to yell, and surgery partially restored both.
◆ Hit in the Neck
When a log fell on John Bunyan’s chest and neck, it fractured his thyroid cartilage and left his left vocal cord shorter and looser than the right. The resulting rough, husky voice and inability to yell improved after a second surgery to stretch the left cord back to length.