IN TEXTBOOKS of laryngology a chapter on the diagnosis of voice is always missing. The diagnosis of voice is considered the field of singing masters. Only the literature on psychology covers the subject in a more scientific way. However, the fact cannot be denied that the laryngologist sees or, better, hears vocal symptoms every day without being taught how to evaluate them. The visual approach to the appearance and the functions of the vocal cords has become the method of teaching as well as of examining vocal phenomena. If professional and vocational problems have to be decided in the treatment of singers and speakers, the laryngologist depends on the judgment of a singing master, whose approach again remains a mystery to him and whose scientific qualifications are unknown to him. In addition to this, phoneticians and singers use a different terminology or, better, a different "jargon," so that understanding becomes