About the Author:

Antoinette am Zehnhoff-Dinnesen studied medical sciences in Düsseldorf and Bonn. In 1983 she became a medical specialist in ENT diseases and in 1986, a medical specialist in phoniatrics and pedaudiology. In 1988, she gained her Habilitation from Düsseldorf University for her work on regulation of vocal amplitude and frequency during voice onset. In 1990 Dr. am Zehnhoff-Dinnesen was appointed Professor of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology at the Medical Faculty of Philipps University in Marburg. The following year she became Professor at the Medical Faculty at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster, where she is Head of the Clinic of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology. She is author or co-author of more than 100 original papers in German and English language on various aspects of phoniatrics and pedaudiology and co-author of several books. She has been both Secretary and President of the German Society of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology. In 2011, she was elected President of the Union of the European Phoniatricians (UEP) for the 2011-2014 term.

Tadeus Nawka studied medicine at Humboldt University in Berlin and then trained in ENT in Cottbus before specialising in Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology at the Charité in Berlin. He completed his scientific education at Harvard Medical School in 1994, after which he became Assistant Professor for ENT/Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology. After a three years term as a surgeon at the ENT department of the St. Georg Hospital in Hamburg, in 1999 Dr. Nawka became Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Phoniatrics and Pedaudiology at the University of Greifswald. Since 2009 he has been Professor and Head of the Division of Voice and Swallowing at the Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Charité - University Medicine Berlin. His main interests are diagnosis and treatment of voice and swallowing disorders and phonosurgery.

Bożena Wiskirska-Woźnica studied at the Medical University of Gdansk before specializing in Otorhinolaryngology at the Medical University of Bydgoszcz and in Phoniatrics and Audiology at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences. In 1981 she completed her doctoral thesis on EMG examination of cricopharyngeal muscle in laryngectomised. In 2002 she subsequently gained her PhD and Habilitation in Phoniatrics & Audiology from the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, the latter for work on complex voice estimation in organic and functional voice disorders. Dr. Wiskirska-Woźnica is currently Head of the Chair & Department of Phoniatrics and Audiology at Poznan University of Medical Sciences. She is also President of the Phoniatric Section of the Polish Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery Society and a board Member of the UEP. She is the author or co-author of more than 80 original papers in Polish and English language medical journals and over the 15 chapters in several books.

Katrin Neumann studied medicine at the University of Leipzig. She is currently Head of the Department of Phoniatrics and Pediatric Audiology and of the Hearing and Cochlea Implant Center at the University of Bochum, Germany. Dr. Neumann chairs the Technology Committee of the Coalition on Global Hearing Health. In addition, she has chaired the Audiology Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP), where she also works as a consultant on the Fluency Committee. She contributes to the work of the WHO Prevention of Deafness and Hearing Impairment Team as a member of the WHO Expert Advisory Board and is WHO Officer of the Union of European Phoniatricians (UEP). Dr. Neumann is an Associate Editor of several international journals and has received national and international awards, including the 2014 European Phoniatrics Hearing EUHA Award. Her research interests are wide ranging, and she has published more than 190 original articles, monographs, and book chapters.