If she has developed "severe laryngitis" only 4 weeks into the competition, and risked "long-term damage" should she continue rehearsing and then singing one 3-minute song, it makes me wonder if her voice will cope across the later stages of the next 6 weeks when she has to start choosing, rehearsing and then performing more than 1 song each Saturday.

In the case of the Final, she'll need to stretch herself to choosing, rehearsing and performing three songs, including the winner's song (which she will also have to record ahead of the Final).

The demands on her voice are only going to get more intense, first 2 songs per week, then 3. Putting aside issues of liking/disliking Diana, I don't think her voice is likely to stay the distance. I suspect she will have to pull out of the competition at some stage, following another episode of severe laryngitis - the cause of which appears to be her straining her voice rather than due to flu or a cold.

It also makes me wonder if she would ever be able to cope with an hour long concert, rather than a brief 3 minutes on the X Factor stage, or if she could hold down a UK tour without having to cancel most of her gigs.

I think someone is overreacting a bit just because she has laryngitis, doesn't mean she is going to get it every week. Leon suffered laryingitis at New Year, and he is still able to perform etc.

I just have one response to the concept of Diana and hour long concerts: *shudder*

Me thinks some people are overreacting with all of this, Diana will be fine, she didn't ask to be ill, I think some people are giving her such a hard time, and I think it's because she is fav to win. She will be back on Saturday, and I can't wait, last Saturday felt so empty with out her, and if Alex/Ruth or Laura wasn't there I probs wouldn't of watched it, I know a lot of Diana fans didn't watch last Saturday.

Madonna had it before and only had it for five days.

Of course, plenty of singers develop laryngitis and "lose their voices", it's an occupatioal hazard. Alex and Ruth lost theirs in this series and continued on, as has every other X Factor entrant, including two winners, Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward. However this is the first time anyone has been diagnosed with "severe" laryngitis, and had to miss a show. Everything we are told about it communicates that it is serious.

No illness or disease applies, although Cheryl spoke of an "infection" at the start of Diana's VT, there has been no mention of her taking antibiotics, and Diana herself spoke (without any difficulty!) in the same VT to explain the doctor told her she had severe laryngitis and inflammation of the vocal cords.

Basically she has strained her voice, and because she is not a power singer and the demands placed on her voice have been minimal in comparison to a professional singer or someone touring, this probably happened because of the way she sings. There is therefore no reason why she won't inflame her vocal cords again, especially when they won't make a 100% recovery for next Saturday, and when it gets to 2 and then 3 songs per week I think it's almost a certainty that she will have problems. If I was a betting man I would not bet on her winning, however popular she may be, I'd bet on her having to leave the competition.

Diana's singing voice will not be her natural voice. If it was there'd likely be something wrong with her vocal cords in the first place and a singing career may be inadvisable. She has also adopted the Sinead chirrups after auditions/boot camp where she did not use them, and that places further stresses on her limited range. All this has become her signature sounds, so the audience expect it of her. When she returns to the X Factor stage this untrained singer adopting a strange voice will strain her voice again.

I don't know if she lost it due to her singing though

In fact all 4 winners had some sort of throat infection during their series so it seems to me its an omen for who will win!