the name of this condition was originally going to be called episodic hemi-laryngopharyngeal spasm. this was adjusted to hemi episodic laryngopharyngeal spasm to provide the more memorable acronym helps. there was some resultant confusion was to what ‘hemi episodic’ meant. the similar condition of hemifacial spasm is also episodic but does not use the adjective ‘episodic’. the name was therefore altered slightly to just hemi-laryngopharyngeal spasm omitting the word ‘episodic’. the acronym was then also adjusted to helps with the ‘he’ referring to ‘hemi’.