I traveled by airline when I had a cold. I had some sinus congestion prior to flying. By the second and third flight, I could feel my eustachian tubes trying to equalize during descent. After the third flight, I could not talk at all beyond a whisper.

It has been like this for over a week now, and my voice is just starting to come back. I feel no throat irritation. Initially, no matter how hard I tried to speak, no irritation occurred. Now, as I begin to recover, trying to speak is difficult and leads to some irritation and is fatiguing, so I try not to speak.

I still have mucus accumulating in the back of my throat-- more than ordinary, but it doesn't seem like a lot. The other cold symptoms were minor and have gone about 4 days ago.

This has occurred to me once before, but I don't remember the recovery taking so long. It doesn't fit my understanding of laryngitis, because there is no irritation and it is lasting a very long time.

I have not seen this problem described anywhere else. What is happening that is related to the eustachian tubes and my ability to make speaking sounds?