Phoniatrics is the medical research and treatment of organs involved with speech production. In general terms the speech organs means the mouth, throat (larynx), the vocal cords and lungs. Problems treated in phoniatrics include dysfunction of the vocal cords, cancer in the vocal cords or larynx, incapability to control the speech organs properly (speech disorders), and vocal loading related problems. Medical research is research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine. ... In biology, an organ (Latin organum: instrument, tool) is a group of tissues, which perform a specific function or group of functions. ... Speech: (n. ... The mouth, also known as the buccal cavity or the oral cavity, is the opening through which an animal or human takes in food. ... The larynx (IPA læɹɪŋks) is an organ in the neck of mammals involved in control of breathing, protection of the trachea and sound production. ... The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the human larynx. ... The heart with relation to the lungs (from an older edition of Grays Anatomy) This x-ray of the human chest shows the lungs as dark regions The lung is an organ belonging to the respiratory system and interfacing to the circulatory system of air-breathing vertebrates. ... Speech disorders are a type of communication disorders where normal speech is disrupted. ... Vocal loading is the stress inflicted on the speech organs when speaking for long periods. ...

In the United States the field is known as Speech Pathology. Practitioners are trained in Speech Pathology training programs. While the field is an allied health field, the practitioners are not physicians but rather known specifically as speech pathologists. Speech pathologists work with patients with speech disorders from a wide variety of causes and also deal with disorders of swallowing. They also assist in the diagnosis of laryngeal dysfunction including hoarseness and have helped define and identify the role of esophageal reflux disease in a number of patients. Examples of patients treated by Speech Pathologists include children with speech disorders, adults after laryngectomy, patients with swallowing disorders from neurologic disease, and performers with laryngeal problems.

In the past, stuttering was viewed as a psychological problem, but that view has been discarded. One explanation for stuttering is that there could be a synchronization problem in the communication between the two halves of the brain. Stuttering (commonly known as stammering in the UK and scientifically known as dysphemia) is a speech disorder in which the normal flow of speech is frequently disrupted by repetitions (sounds, syllables, words or phrases), pauses and prolongations that differ both in frequency and severity from those of normally fluent individuals. ...