Dr Liang Voice Program

The Dr Liang Voice Program aims to improve outcomes for people affected by voice disorders. Our program supports research, education and clinical training in the field of laryngeal and voice conditions.

The program fosters important academic collaboration with adjacent hospitals, clinical schools, research and training facilities and health professionals.

Our approach

Without access to proper care and treatment, voice disorders can have a debilitating impact on quality of life. Our program aims to reduce the potential debilitating effects of voice disorders by leveraging our expertise in speech pathology and ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery to try to improve the future diagnosis, treatment and recovery of patients with laryngeal conditions.

We combine tools and emerging technologies from the speech pathology discipline and ENT surgery to educate laryngeal clinicians.

Program leadership

Our program draws on existing expertise at the University in the field of laryngology and voice rehabilitation, and is led by two internationally acclaimed voice clinicians:

Associate Professor Cate Madill

Associate Professor Cate Madill is the Director of the Voice Research Laboratory at the Faculty of Health Sciences.

She is focused on improving the effectiveness of voice treatment and training programs and researching optimal voice outcomes after early glottic cancer surgery.

Madill conducts experimental and applied clinical research into the mechanisms and processes that change the voice. Her research involves the use of high-speed larygoscopy, ultrasound, respiratory, electrophysiology and acoustic measurement and psychoacoustic evaluation.

Associate Professor Daniel Novakovic

Associate Professor Daniel Novakovic is a senior clinical lecturer at the Northern Clincial School and an ear, nose and throat surgeon specialising in laryngology and head and neck surgery.

He is one of a few surgeons in Australia to have received formal fellowship training in the field of layngology from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Associate Professor Madill and Associate Professor Novakovic both work as clinicians in ongoing speech pathology treatment programs, surgical and speech pathology consultations.

Sydney International Laryngology Fellowship

The DLVP Clinical Laryngology Fellowship at the University of Sydney is available to qualified trainees in the specialty of laryngology, head and neck surgery, both locally and internationally. Overseas Fellows are welcome to apply.

The fellowship is a one-year program designed to prepare existing ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons for a future subspecialty career in the fields of laryngology and laryngeal surgery. The program involves attachments with several laryngologists across a variety of clinical locations.

Clinical activities cover the breadth of laryngology with a focus on voice, swallowing and airway disorders as well as care of the professional voice. Funding is available via assist fees +/- a DLVP scholarship.

Candidates must be competent in the English language. Medical qualifications will be assessed by the Royal Australian College of Surgeons (RACS) and permission to practice will be reviewed by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

This fellowship is open to applicants from both Australia and Overseas.

Expressions of interest for fellowships commencing in February 2025 are now open and will close on July 12th 2023.

Speciality	Laryngology and care of the professional voice
Funding	One year funded clinical fellowship
Location	Dr Liang Voice Program, Level 5 D18 - Susan Wakil Health Building, Western Ave, Level 2 main entrance, University of Sydney, NSW 2006
More information	For more details, and to request an EOI Information pack, please email dlvp.enquiries@sydney.edu.au

Recent publications

2019

Black, R., Bogaardt, H., McCabe, P, Glanville, A., Macdonald, P. & Madill, C. (2019) Clinical predictors for oropharyngeal dysphagia and laryngeal dysfunction after lung and heart transplantation. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders54 (6) DOI : 10.1111/1460-6984.12492
Novakovic, D., Nguyen, D., Chacon, A. & Madill, C. (2019). Injection Laryngoplasty as Adjunct Treatment Method for Muscle Tension Dysphonia: Preliminary Findings.”The Laryngoscope. DOI:10.1002/lary.28205
Zhang, T., I. Cook, M. Szczęśniak, J. Maclean, P. Wu, D. D. Nguyen and C. Madill (2019). "The relationship between biomechanics of pharyngoesophageal segment and tracheoesophageal phonation." Scientific Reports 9(1): 9722.
Madill, C., A. McIlwaine, R. Russell, N. J. Hodges and P. McCabe (2019). "Classifying and Identifying Motor Learning Behaviors in Voice-Therapy Clinician-Client Interactions: A Proposed Motor Learning Classification Framework." Journal of Voice. May 2. pii: S0892-1997(18)30510-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2019.03.014.
Madill, C., Nguyen, D., Cham, K., Novakovic, D. & McCabe, P. (2019) The impact of nasalance on cepstral peak prominence and harmonics-to-noise ratio. The Laryngoscope.
Black, R., McCabe P., Glanville, A. Bogaardt, H., MacDonald, P. and Madill, C. (2019) Oropharyngeal Dysphagia and Dysphonia after Lung and/or Heart Transplant: a systematic review. Disability and Rehabilitation. DOI : 10.1080/09638288.2018.1552326.
Simpson, SB, Qian, KY, Sacks, R, Novakovic, D, Simpson, R, Van der Wall, H. Observational cohort study: Getting to the bottom of laryngopharyngeal reflux—It’s a motility disorder and not just about the acid. GastroHep. 2019; 1: 223– 235.
Crocco, L., McCabe, P &. Madill, C. (2019) Principles of motor learning in classical singing teaching Journal of Voice Online
Anna Rumbach, Patrick Aiken, Daniel Novakovic (2019). Outcome Measurement in the Treatment of Spasmodic Dysphonia: A Systematic Review of the Literature, Journal of Voice (2019) ISSN 0892-1997, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2018.03.011.

2018

Yeo, S., Lee, R., McCabe, P., Madill, C. (2018) Effects of different lung volume conditions on closed quotient, vocal fundamental frequency and relative intensity in vocally untrained female speakers. Acoustics Australia
Madill, C., Nguyen, D., Eastwood, C, Heard, R. & Warhurst, S. (2018) Comparison of Cepstral Peak Prominence measures using the ADSV, SpeechTool and VoiceSauce acoustic analysis programs in vocally healthy female speakers. Acoustics Australia (2018) 46: 215. ttps://doi.org/10.1007/s40857-018-0139-6
Look, C., McCabe, P. Heard, R. & Madill, C. (2018). Show and Tell: Video Modelling and Instruction without Feedback improves performance but is not sufficient for retention of a Complex Voice Motor Skill. Journal of Voice DOI :doi org.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/10.1016/j.jvoice.2017.09.023
Wijaya C, Morgan L, Novakovic D, et al Laryngoceles with airway compromise complicating mucous membrane pemphigoid Case Reports 2018;2018:bcr-2018-225316.
Ahmadi F, Noorian F, Novakovic D, van Schaik A. A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset. PLoS One. 2018 Feb 21;13(2):e0192257. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192257. eCollection 2018. PubMed PMID: 29466455; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5821320
Novakovic D, Cheng A, Zurynski Y, Booy, R, Walker P.J., Berkowitz R, Harrison H, Black R, Perry C, Vijayasekaran S, Wabnitz D, Burns H, Tabrizi S.N, Garland S.M, Elliott E, Julia Brotherton J.M.L, A Prospective Study of the Incidence of Juvenile-Onset Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis After Implementation of a National HPV Vaccination Program, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 217, Issue 2, 15 January 2018, Pages 208–212
Madill C, Warhurst S & McCabe P (2018) The Stakeholder Model of voice research: Acknowledging barriers to human rights of all stakeholders in a communicative exchange, International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20:1, 63-66
Engelsman AF, Warhurst S, Fraser S, Novakovic D, Sidhu SB. Influence of neural monitoring during thyroid surgery on nerve integrity and postoperative vocal function. BJS Open. 2018;2(3):135–141. Published 2018 Apr 25. doi:10.1002/bjs5.50