Psychogenic aphonia masking mutational falsetto.

Aphonia, originally due to laryngeal inflammation, became psychogenic and superimposed on the unstable pitch of adolescent voice change. We presumed that the aphonia was adopted as a means of dealing with peer pressure to maintain a high preadolescent pitch as well. Voice therapy was effective in alleviating both the aphonia and mutational falsetto. Clinicians should be alert to underlying mutational falsetto when confronted with an aphonic or dysphonic adolescent patient with no organic laryngeal pathologic condition.