Injury to throat/voicebox

stu1883 · Post by **stu1883** » Mon April 11th, 2011, 11:45 am

Hi everyone,

My book is set around 1196 in the Holy Land/Med/England.

One of my characters has to have a quiet, strained voice after receiving an injury during a fight. But what type of injury could cause this.

My current story is that he has been struck in the throat by an oar but I am not sure of this will crush his throat but not affect his speech.

If anyone has any knowledge of this I would be very grateful to hear what you think. Thanks in advance!

Stu

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Fri April 15th, 2011, 11:44 am

Hi Stu

Didn't see the first thread!

To have a strained or weak voice from an injury, a person would need to have had his larynx damaged - to be more precise, the vocal cords damaged. The only way that could happen is in my opinion from the likes of a blade that cut out part of the throat, while miraculously avoiding all the major blood vessels and nerves that run through that part of the body. It's an unlikely injury for someone of the time to survive, I would have thought. I hope that helps.

stu1883 · Post by **stu1883** » Fri April 15th, 2011, 12:06 pm

Cheers Ben, looks like I will have to come up with another scenario for it to have happened. Could it have happened by hanging, per chance?

parthianbow · Post by **parthianbow** » Fri April 15th, 2011, 1:56 pm

Potentially, but again, I don't think the person would have survived. Or else the injury would resolve. I'm no expert on this, just going on my vet training. You could try looking the the ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) dept of the BRI or another hospital and getting in touch with one of the consultants there.If you explain that you're writing a novel, they'd probably be happy to help, and would certainly know the answer.

Michy · Post by **Michy** » Fri April 15th, 2011, 4:11 pm

[quote=""stu1883""]Cheers Ben, looks like I will have to come up with another scenario for it to have happened. Could it have happened by hanging, per chance?[/quote]

Or perhaps from an attempted strangulation? He survived, but his vocal cords were permanently damaged? Don't know if that's possible, it's just a guess.....

stu1883 · Post by **stu1883** » Sat April 16th, 2011, 12:16 pm

Thank you everyone - Michy after a nights sleep and some objective thinking, the answer to my question was staring me right in the face. My character is a victim of torture over a prolonged period so all the screaming and like you suggested strangulation (although I may use hanging) would have had the compounded effect on his voice.

Cheers everyone!