Introduction:

Muscle tension dysphonia has been defined since 1983 as a disorder in which there is an imbalance in laryngeal muscle tension forces, without evidence of structural or neurological pathology; it has also been called type I muscle tension dysphonia. The characteristics that in practice have been considered part of the diagnosis are not standardized.

Objective:

To review current information, not older than 5 years, on muscle tension dysphonia, unifying current diagnostic criteria.

Methodology:

A systematic search was carried out through the Pub Med, Google scholar and Cochrane databases. The MESH terms used were: muscle tension dysphonia, functional dysphonia, hyperkinetic dysphonia, and vocal fatigue. Inclusion criteria: articles published in peer-reviewed journals, regardless of design and published no more than 5 years before. Exclusion criteria: articles whose main focus was not muscle tension dysphonia and with a language other than English or Spanish.

Results:

Two studies report more pathology in women than men; four investigations report increased subglottic pressure (> 90 mmHg); three studies reported phonatory measures; a work proposes high resolution video as a demonstration of vocal hyperfunction; an investigation evaluated mucosal wave by electroglottography; an investigation studied the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging; another work proposed a pilot study of infrahyoid muscle blood flow assessment: another work reviews the use of diagnostic methods.

Conclusions:

The parameters of greater weight were cepstral peak and subglottic pressure. It is still necessary to expand the knowledge with new research that allows universal criteria.

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