How can a person become completely mute without external indications?
I have searched for a while now, but I cannot find a definite answer.
A character I am writing has been captured by the antagonist, operated on and released, now completely mute.
I've looked around for a bit to find a plausible way to explain him becoming completely mute, but cannot find one.
Simply removing his vocal cords would still allow for some noises.
Important: He has to look normal from the outside, so simply sewing his mouth shut or something similar is not an option.
How can I justify this?
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1 answer
Mutism is the inability to speak, not the inability to make any sounds with the mouth. Your character could become mute from a variety of causes. Willk suggests a laryngectomy, which would certainly work. With the right clothing, the person can look normal. Renan suggests causing aphasia with brain damage, which would also work, if done right (it could also cause damage that leads to changes that are noticeable).
Another possibility is a total glossectomy (removal of the tongue)
While some patients can speak afterwards, it's a long process that requires a lot of training and practice, and sometimes prosthetics. If your character's surgery was recent, speech wouldn't be there yet. While the woman in the article had a very invasive surgery, that was to get rid of cancer. A simple glossectomy would not be obvious from the outside, with his mouth shut.
Another (very common) cause of mutism is physiological, called selective mutism. It takes longer than an operation to invoke in people not predisposed to it. There's no real guarantee that's what you'll get, but it is a way to explain it, and there are no physical scars. (While most people with selective mutism can speak in some situations, some are completely silent 100% of the time for very long periods, even years.
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