Otolaryngology News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

In recognition of World Voice Day, Friday, April 16, sponsored by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital voice medicine specialist Joseph R. Spiegel, M.D., will be available this week for news interviews to discuss treatable vocal disorders, including hoarseness, vocal fold lesions and laryngopharyngeal reflux disease, and how to care for the voice.

On World Voice Day, the public is encouraged to assess their vocal health and take action to improve or maintain good voice habits. Among the issues Dr. Spiegel can discuss are:

• Often, voice complaints are dismissed as a cold, flu or an allergy. Other times, voice complaints are not considered to be part of a voice disorder-- especially if the complaints have been present for a long time or most of the individual’s life.
• Voice problems can arise from nerve compression or damage elsewhere in the neck and head, from thyroid gland problems, or from other sources. In addition, laryngeal cancer can be associated with other head and neck tumors; although rare, laryngeal cancer is a life-threatening voice disorder that needs to be ruled out through examination.
• While reflux is normally associated with inflammation of the esophagus, it can also develop in the larynx as the result of irritation and swelling of parts of the voice box due to the backflow of stomach fluids into the voice box area. This backflow is called laryngopharyngeal reflux. People with reflux laryngitis usually complain of hoarseness, frequent throat clearing, sensation of lump in the throat, cough or sore throat.

These disorders are all treatable, says Dr. Spiegel, associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. The Jefferson otolaryngologist specializes in vocal disorders, particularly in professionals who use their voice—from performers to lawyers to telephone operators.

Dr. Spiegel, who is board-certified, is currently an attending otolaryngologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He previously served as vice chair of Otolaryngology at Graduate Hospital, Philadelphia, and adjunct associate professor of Otolaryngology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Dr. Spiegel is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and the Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology.

He completed a laryngology/voice fellowship at the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research.