[Medical Q&A] My child has been diagnosed with vocal cord nodules. What treatments are needed?

Author: Li Hongbin, deputy chief physician, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

Reviewer: Wang Guixiang, Chief Physician, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University

Hoarseness caused by vocal nodules not only affects the quality of children's voice, but also has a negative impact on their physical and mental health. Long-term hoarseness can easily make children feel inferior, and they will not perform well in activities that require pronunciation, such as singing, playing games, and raising hands to speak. They dare not confidently use their voices to express themselves bravely. Over time, some children will regard speaking as a burden, become reluctant to speak, dislike making friends, feel inferior, and become autistic; some children will continue to shout, causing the hoarseness to worsen, causing deeper damage to the vocal cords, and forming vocal cord polyps, vocal cord cysts, vocal cord hypertrophy and other lesions.

The vocal nodules of a large number of children will gradually shrink or disappear after they adjust their vocalization methods and change their vocal habits. The change of pronunciation habits mainly depends on the guidance and education of parents. Parents must pay attention to avoid children's screaming, shouting, crying and making a fuss in daily life. Parents should speak softly to their children and not shout loudly. When talking at a distance, tell the child that they need to come forward to communicate. Young babies are very easy to cry and like to express their emotions by crying. Parents should communicate with their children patiently, let them learn to control their emotions, and help them develop good vocalization habits. Once the child's tone is high, remind the child to pay attention to the voice in time and not to speak loudly. Once the habit is formed, the vocal nodules will naturally disappear, and the voice will naturally return to normal.

If school-age children still have persistent hoarseness and parents find it difficult to help their children develop healthy vocal habits, they can go to a children's specialist hospital for voice training. Voice training teachers will use professional and systematic training to let children practice abdominal breathing and pronunciation, control breathing airflow, and thus develop correct pronunciation habits. After a few training sessions, the vocal cord nodules of most children will disappear on their own.