Tracing Spasmodic Dysphonia: The Source of Ludwig Traube's Priority.
OBJECTIVE
Since the mid-20th century, one citation is given historical priority as the first description of spasmodic dysphonia (SD): Ludwig Traube's 1871 case of the "spastic form of nervous hoarseness." Our objective is to understand how this case serves as the foundation of understanding laryngeal movement disorders.


METHODS
The original German paper was located and translated. Bibliographical and bibliometric methods are used to determine the citation history of this original source over the past 140 years.


RESULTS
Although secondary citations in contemporary publications typically credit Traube for establishing the clinical entity SD, his case does not conform to currently accepted diagnostic features. Citation patterns indicate the source of Traube's priority is publications by Arnold and Luchsinger, mid-20th-century ENT clinicians, particularly their influential 1965 textbook used to train US and UK clinicians on voice disorders for several generations.


CONCLUSIONS
Sometimes secondary citations in medical literature lead to the inadvertent perpetuation of factual misrepresentation. The clinical picture of Traube's original case does not represent what clinicians would recognize as SD today. The rich 19th-century literature on voice disorders is a valuable resource for present day clinicians.
Applied Linguistics and Communication, Birkbeck, University of London, UK m.lorch@bbk.ac.uk.
Marjorie Perlman
MP
Lorch
The Harley Street ENT Clinic, London, UK.
Renata
R
Whurr
D015706:Bibliometrics; D055154:Dysphonia / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D014177:Translations
bibliometrics; dysphonia; movement disorders; spasmodic dystonia; vocal cord dysfunction; voice disorders