The incidence of voice disease in the elderly has been on the rise in recent years. The age of onset is mainly after 40 years old, with the peak incidence between 50 and 70 years old. The incidence rate for men is higher than that for women, about 3-8 times higher than that for women, and most men smoke and drink alcohol for a long time, which is the main reason for the higher incidence rate. The larynx is an important vocal organ of the human body. People speak, sing and so on are the sound made by the movement of the vocal cords and the closing of the vocal chambers, called the fundamental sound, and then become speech or song with the help of the resonating organs such as the lips, tongue, teeth, palate, pharynx and nose. So when there is a change of hoarseness in a person’s voice, it should be thought that it is related to the damaged articulatory function of the larynx. Hoarseness can be divided into two categories: acute and chronic. Acute hoarseness can be caused by edema and congestion of the vocal cords due to cold, acute laryngitis, loud speech, etc. Chronic hoarseness can be caused by chronic laryngitis, tuberculosis or due to vocal cord hypertrophy, polyps, nodules, etc. Elderly people should pay special attention to hoarseness caused by laryngeal cancer. Acute hoarseness can be seen in people of all age groups and has obvious precipitating causes. Normal voice can be gradually restored after treatment of the primary cause, such as hoarseness caused by acute laryngitis can be significantly improved after treatment of laryngitis. Chronic hoarseness has a clear cause and can be treated for the cause. However, if the elderly have persistent hoarseness with pain and discomfort in the larynx and blood in the sputum, it is often suggested to be a precursor of laryngeal cancer and should be highly alert. Laryngeal cancer is a common malignant tumor in otorhinolaryngology, mostly found in elderly male patients, and its incidence accounts for about 1% to 5% of all malignant tumors. Because laryngeal cancer grows slowly and rarely infiltrates into adjacent tissues in early stage, it is not easy to metastasize, so the early symptoms are not obvious, only hoarseness and cough, so most patients often mistake it for cold or laryngitis and do not pay attention to it, thus delaying the best time for treatment. How can laryngeal cancer be detected early? Early symptoms of laryngeal cancer can be as follows: 1. Progressive hoarseness: Hoarseness is the earliest signal of laryngeal cancer of vocal fold type. Laryngeal cancer is a tumor growing on the vocal cords, and even if the size is small, hoarseness will occur. Any adult with unexplained hoarseness that lasts for more than two weeks should have a careful laryngeal examination and should not be taken lightly. Because the patient is not in pain at this time, it is often mistaken for a “cold” or “laryngitis”. Abnormal throat sensation: foreign body sensation, urgency or swallowing discomfort are the early symptoms of supraglottic laryngeal cancer. However, the symptoms of this type of cancer are often not obvious at the beginning and are not detected until the later stage, and the history can be traced for several months. 3.Cough with blood in sputum: Due to the stimulation of tumor, it can produce irritating dry cough, and patients often have the feeling of mucus adhesion, so they often “wash their throat”. After the tumor enlarges, it will also block the airway and make the airway secretion discharge poorly, causing respiratory tract infection, wheezing and even difficulty in breathing, and in the middle and late stage, it will show as continuous cough and even blood in sputum. Among the main causes of laryngeal cancer, smoking and alcohol consumption occupy an important position. 90% of laryngeal cancer patients have a long-term history of smoking or drinking alcohol. Studies have found that tobacco smoke can stop or retard the cilia movement of laryngeal mucous membrane epithelial cells, causing mucosal edema and bleeding, and causing epithelial hyperplasia, thickening and squamous metaplasia, which become the basis of carcinogenesis. Long-term excessive drinking can damage the mucosal epithelium in the laryngeal cavity, which can degenerate and cause cancer. Secondly, the cause of laryngeal cancer is also related to air pollution. The long-term inhalation of harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and industrial dusts such as chromium and arsenic can easily lead to the occurrence of laryngeal cancer. In addition, experts also found that laryngeal cancer is related to radiation, sex hormones and genetic factors. Since the early manifestation of laryngeal cancer is not obvious, the “classic” symptom is hoarseness, which is often not taken seriously. Therefore, elderly people who have hoarseness for more than two weeks and have received treatment for a period of time should consider detailed laryngeal examination if their condition worsens instead of getting worse. For patients with laryngeal cancer, surgery is the main means of treatment, and usually doctors will use partial laryngectomy and elective cervical lymph node dissection. Such traditional surgery often leaves an incision more than 10 cm long in the middle of the neck and is highly invasive. Such an incision is undoubtedly unacceptable to modern people who love beauty and seek quality of life. At present, in order to avoid the large incision in the larynx and reduce the surgical trauma as much as possible, according to the patient’s condition, the doctor can perform carbon dioxide laser partial laryngectomy for some patients to preserve their articulation function with less trauma and quick recovery after surgery. The treatment effect of early to mid-stage laryngeal cancer is very good, and the 5-year survival rate can reach 70-90% after reasonable treatment, so the key is early detection and choosing the correct treatment method. In our daily life, we should pay attention to the voice health of the elderly, reduce the bad stimulation of alcohol and tobacco, and pay attention to the hoarseness of voice. We should make active prevention, early detection and early treatment.