The word hoarseness, as commonly used, encompasses several kinds and degrees of vocal abnormality. However, regardless of the number of meanings that are attached to this word, the common factor seemingly present in all descriptions of hoarseness is that it is a phonatory phenomenon, ie, it is produced by the laryngeal sound generator. Moreover, it is usually assumed that normal voice results from normal vibration of the vocal cords and that hoarseness is a result of some sort of abnormal vibration. Normal vocal cord vibration, that is, patterns of movement that can be observed by means of ultra-high-speed photography or stroboscopy (when nondefective vocalization is being produced) has been described previously in the literature.6,10,11 These descriptions will not be detailed here. Briefly, however, the several distinct motions of the cords which group themselves into repeating