I grew up answering to bells and hand signals because my mom could rarely talk above a whisper. For several years my mom's voice would come and go. From day to day you never knew if she was going to have it or not. It'd be gone sometimes for a few days or sometimes a few weeks. It got worse and worse until one day it went and didn't come back for over 2 years. My mom saw all kinds of doctors and had all kinds of tests done, but no one ever gave her a diagnosis. One night my mom was standing in the living room talking in her whispering voice and her voice started to crack and by the next day it was back to a normal voice. It's been almost 12 years since it returned. She still loses it often, but it's like before, only gone for a few days or a few weeks at a time.
Once my mom's voice came back (after the 2+ years) she could no longer pronounce some of the things she could say before. She always called me "Annie" (my middle name is Ann), but she could no longer say it, it now comes out as "Onnie". There are many words she can't pronounce anymore, it's been so many years that we're all used to it now.