Functional dysphonia is a voice problem that is not caused by a physical injury or disease of the vocal cords. Instead, it happens when the voice is affected by stress, habits, or even psychological influences. In simple terms, the voice does not work normally because of how the muscles are used (or not) rather than because of an organic disease like inflammation or growth. Sometimes, these issues are mistakenly thought to be caused by conditions like reflux laryngitis, which can lead to the wrong treatment.

Doctors usually evaluate functional dysphonia by carefully examining how the voice sounds and examining the vocal cords with a small camera (fiberoptic laryngoscopy). They might ask you to perform different speaking tasks so they can see if your vocal cords are vibrating normally. Treatment for functional dysphonia typically involves voice therapy with a speech-language pathologist to help retrain proper voice use. In some cases, if stress or emotional factors contribute to the problem, psychological support may also help get to the root of the issue.