Shradha Saindani* and Sachin Gandhi

Department of ENT, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, India

*Corresponding Author: Shradha Saindani, Department of ENT, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Pune, India.

Received: May 27, 2026; Published: June 18, 2026

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) and muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) are task-specific voice disorders often presenting with strained or breathy phonation. Differentiating them clinically may be challenging. This case series evaluates the role of laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) in diagnosing and guiding management in 15 patients presenting with dysphonia. Eight patients were diagnosed with adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD) characterized by staccato, strangulated speech, two with abductor spasmodic dysphonia (AbSD), and five with Grade 3 muscle tension dysphonia. All patients underwent videolaryngostroboscopy and LEMG. Classical LEMG findings in SD included pre-phonatory bursts and high-amplitude motor unit potentials, while MTD showed increased tonic activity without bursts. Management included voice therapy, botulinum toxin injection, and transoral CO₂ laser thyroarytenoid myoneurectomy for selected SD cases, while MTD patients received voice therapy alone. At one-month follow-up, LEMG demonstrated reduced pre-phonatory bursts and improved amplitude patterns, correlating with significant improvement in GRBAS and VHI scores. LEMG proved valuable in diagnosis and outcome assessment.

Keywords: Spasmodic Dysphonia; Adductor Dystonia; Abductor Dystonia; Muscle Tension Dysphonia; Laryngeal Electromyography

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Citation

Citation: Shradha Saindani and Sachin Gandhi. “Laryngeal Electromyography in Spasmodic Dysphonia and Muscle Tension Dysphonia: A Case Series of 15 Patients". Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 8.5 (2026): 11-15.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Shradha Saindani and Sachin Gandhi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.