Know Your Voice & its Care

  •   Mon, Apr 17 2023
  •   By Dr Usha M

April 17, 2023

Every year April 16 is celebrated as World Voice Day in the field of speech and hearing. This particular event was observed first in Brazil in the year 1999 by a group of Brazilian Voice care professionals. Many of you must wonder what ‘Voice’ means here.

Voice gives a person an identity, it is the reflection of one’s mind as well. Voice serves a major role in communicating our needs and emotions. It is difficult to imagine our personalities without our voices. We have many professionals in various fields; those who use their voice as the source of their livelihood; and are called Professional voice users. Professionals such as singers, teachers, theatre artists, lawyers, salespersons, telemarketers, public speakers, politicians, etc come under this category.


Source: Father Muller College, Dept of Speech and Hearing

These professional voice users are more prone to get voice disorders due to continuous and over usage of voice. Especially teachers of kindergarten and primary school are at high risk of getting vocal pathologies due to their yelling, screaming, shouting, and long hour of teaching in loud voice with minimal breaks. This World Voice Day is celebrated to create awareness for such professionals and others on various voice disorders, their causes, symptoms, and regarding their rehabilitation.

We all know to approach a general physician, ENT, neurologist, psychologist, or paediatrician for our various problems, but only a few know that they can consult a Voice pathologist or a vocologist in case of any voice disorder or change in voice quality that they experience. Many a time these issues are even ignored unless it is affecting one’s quality of life to a very extent.

Let me explain a little more in detail about voice quality and disorders. You might have experienced that there is no voice coming out of your throat (Aphonia) the next day of your college trip. Or you might feel tired in talking or have pain while swallowing as well if you have any infection in your throat (laryngitis). A person can even feel the loss of voice in case of emotional trauma. Teachers and singers feel that their voice is gradually changing over the period of their teaching or singing years. Due to frequent cough and throat clearing also, people feel irritation in the throat and change in voice. There are various reasons, why the quality of voice changes to breathy, hoarse, strained, or complete loss of voice.

The reason for changing the voice quality due to all these activities is simple. You are doing over usage of your voice, and that is leading to a lot of friction in the vocal folds in your voice box also called the larynx. Vocal folds which are responsible for voicing are made of muscle tissue and it drives its energy from the lungs. Lungs supply air, and vocal folds are set into vibration to produce voice. So, any over-exertion on these systems will lead to vocal pathologies which affect your voice in varying severity.

In the recent years, awareness and education is spread among singers regarding the vocal care, vocal abuse, and vocal training to some extent. Even a subtle change in voice can affect the singing performance, hence there is voice focused movement going on in that population. On contrary, the teachers who are known for vocal abuse are not well informed about the vocal hygiene and vocal care. Importance of teacher’s vocal health is realized only after the voice gets affected, and their vocal functioning interferes with their job performance.

Basically, voice disorders can be mainly classified as neurological – due to impairment in the functioning of muscles which are responsible for voice production, organic – due to any physical abnormalities of vocal system, and functional voice disorders – due to vocal abuse.

Vocal pathologies due to neurological impairment can be corrected through surgical procedures. Few of the pathologies where extra growth occurs on the vocal folds such as nodules, polyps, cyst, etc can be removed surgically. And few other voice disorders which happens due to over usage of voice can be treated through voice therapy, voice rest and behavioral changes.
Voice therapy and rehabilitation include vocal warm-up exercises, cool down exercises, resonant voice therapy, vocal hygiene therapy, and many more.

Few of the tips to keep your vocal system healthy are,
1. Drink plenty of water and keep your system well hydrated
2. Avoid spicy and food with extreme temperatures.
3. Avoid frequent throat clearing
4. Avoid yelling, shouting and screaming.
5. Avoid smoking and consumption of alcohol.
6. Avoid trying to mimic another person beyond your vocal limits.
7. Practice vocal warm-up and cool down exercises if you are a professional voice user.
8. Give your voice a good rest whenever you feel its required.
9. Maintain good lifestyle with healthy and balanced diet

If you experience any voice-related issues, follow the above-mentioned common tips. Most importantly professional voice users must seek the help of a Speech-Language Pathologist/ Voice therapist.


Source: Father Muller College, Dept of Speech and Hearing

Father Muller College (Department of Speech and Hearing) offers a detailed voice assessment and management protocol for all age groups. For any further queries, you can visit the Department of Speech and Hear in Father Muller Medical College Hospital, Kankanady. You can also contact us between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on weekdays.

Contact Details: 0824-2238296

Email id: fmcosh@fathermuller.in

 

 

 
By Dr Usha M
Dr Usha M, PhD, MSc-SLP, PGDPC, PGDYS is an associate professor in the department of speech and hearing, at Father Muller College, Mangaluru.
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Comment on this article

  • Reva, Mangalore

    Fri, Apr 21 2023

    Another informative article by Dr. Usha ...Thank you for sharing good information..

  • Rita, Germany

    Fri, Apr 21 2023

    Yes as you have written voice changes from teachers ,singers etc.Not only voice changes from these professionals but from every person as their age goes on.It will not be same as before.For example from a child.It will not be same as child becomes a teenager.Will be fine and very sweet,and in later age will be harsh or rough.Might remain bit same ?no.We hear the voice of a person ,and note the person what he wants to tell .Never thought of it?Angry ?happy ?or dont want to hear you?When a person speaks ,we may be total attracted to her/his voice.Want to hear once more .But when some person speaks ,we feel like runaway or scared ,not to stay there .That also is a voice make us threat ,happy ,feel like crying.etc.We always want to hear the voice of our mum ,dad or home people .Also we care for our voice ?Never came the thought of this?From now on we will do.Thank you for your article .

  • Sr jyothi Fernandes UFS, mudarangady/Udupi/ Mysuru

    Tue, Apr 18 2023

    Dear Dr Usha thanks a lot for this well written, very informative and most useful article on-- "Know Your Voice & its Care" you have very well said, "We all know to approach a general physician, ENT, neurologist, psychologist, or paediatrician for our various problems, but only a few know that they can consult a Voice pathologist or a vocologist in case of any voice disorder or change in voice quality that they experience. Many a time these issues are even ignored unless it is affecting one’s quality of life to a very extent." it's very true. yes ,we all need to protect and take care of of voice .


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