What’s going on with Ivanka Trump’s "whisper" voice?
As first daughter Ivanka spoke to ABC News about her use of a personal email account to conduct official White House business, many noticed she sounds raspy and hoarse.
“Why does Ivanka sound like she smoked a pack or two of cigarettes every day?” one Twitter user asked.
Some are even wondering if she’s coming down with a serious vocal cord condition – like Robert Kennedy Jr., who suffers from spasmodic dysphonia (SD).
While often manifesting itself in a whispery or strangled voice, SD is actually a neurological disorder that causes muscles to involuntarily contract and spasm, according to the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association (NSDA).
SD specifically affects speech and causes a person’s voice to sound strained or breathy due to involuntary spasms in the larynx muscles. While the conditional officially affects 50,000 people in North America, the NSDA believes there may be more cases due to misdiagnosis or undiagnosed cases.
Dr. Chandra Ivey, however, told Inside Edition that there could be many reasons for a strained voice.
"It could mean something as easy as you have a little bit of swelling from a cold," Ivey said.
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