Brain activity in aphonia after a coughing episode: different brain activity in healthy whispering and pathological aphonic conditions.

A 48-year-old woman visited the authors' clinic because of aphonia. Laryngeal fiberscopic examination indicated laryngitis and bronchitis, and the authors recognized glottal incompetence when she tried to phonate. The authors performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI) study on the patient's first visit to their clinic and a second study 35 days after the first visit (30 days after the bronchitis and coughing had completely resolved). The brain activity shown on f-MRI differed markedly in the ordinary speaking and whispering phonation modes at the second visit. This suggests that whispering and pathological aphonia result from completely different brain activity, at least in this specific patient.