One Voice

Vocal Health Blog #1: General Vocal Health

Every day I am confronted with students who have various vocal ailments.  Whether it is a sore throat or a hoarse cough, I am reminded of how important it is for us to learn about how to care for our voices.  Taking care of your voice is as important as taking care of the rest of your body, yet we often forget to do it.  Many of us abuse and misuse our voices without even knowing that we are doing it.  I am just as guilty as the rest, and I’ve been trained to use my voice properly and lectured on vocal health more times than I can remember.  So, I did some research for all of us.  This blog and the ones to follow will help you and your student implement good vocal practices.

Hydration: Things to Avoid and Remedies

Our vocal cords need to stay well-hydrated in order to work properly.  Here are some things to avoid, if possible.

·         Areas/rooms with low humidity, such as air conditioned rooms, rooms heated with gas heating, and airplane cabins.  The Fix- Drink plenty of water!  If you are at home, a humidifier can also help manage the issue of dry air.

·         Antihistamines.  Antihistamines that are included in cold/flu and allergy medicines cause dryness to occur.  The Fix- Always drink plenty of water!

·         Caffeinated drinks.  Drinks that include caffeine cause dehydration.  That means that we should avoid drinks such as sodas, tea, and yes, my personal favorite, coffee.  The Fix-These types of drinks are entirely avoidable, but if you’re like me, they are a guilty pleasure.  So…my personal recommendation is to drink them in moderation and make sure you drink plenty of H₂O. 

As you can see, drinking enough water is vital to keeping our vocal cords healthy.  The Texas Voice Center recommends that we drink at least two quarts of water per day!

Colds: What Not to Do and What to Do Instead

Cold season always brings new challenges to vocalists.  Really, whether a singer or just someone who speaks to others on a regular basis (that includes almost everyone), we need to know how to care for our voices during a cold.

·         Clearing your throat.  Believe it or not, clearing your throat can cause damage to your voice if it is not done properly.  So, what can we do when we’ve got that mucus making us sound like we’ve got a “frog in our throats”?  The Texas Voice Center recommends that you take a deep breath, hold your breath for a moment then make a silent “H” sound while you exhale.

·         Harsh coughing.  I don’t know about you, but when I’ve got a cold I feel like the only way to get that mucus out of my body is to cough really hard.  Though effective in breaking up the “gunk,” harsh coughing can be very damaging to your vocal cords.  Instead, try to cough lightly when you have to and use cough drops to help keep your vocal cords hydrated.   The Texas Voice Center says that the safest way to get mucus out is by, “using a gentle, breathy productive cough where there is high airflow with little sound.”

·         Mucus.  So, if we aren’t supposed to cough hard enough to break up the mucus, what do we do?  Try using an expectorant.  www.medterms.com defines and expectorant as, “A medication that helps bring up mucus and other material from the lungs, bronchi, and trachea.”  Don’t be confused though, expectorants are different from cough medicines.  You can find over-the-counter expectorants anywhere you can buy cough medicine.

·         Losing your voice.  When we “lose” our voices during a cold, like I often do, we tend to try to speak through it.  We whisper or speak normally using our hoarse voice as is.  Neither of those is a good option.  The best thing to do is to try to avoid talking altogether.  I know it’s not an easy thing to do, but it is what’s best for our vocal cords.

·         Sore throats.  How do we know when not to sing or speak when we have a sore throat?  The general rule is that if the act of vocalizing (talking, singing, etc.) causes more pain then don’t do it. Period.

General Things to Know

·         Your voice is connected to the rest of your body, so regular exercise helps your voice too!

·         Eating healthy meals helps keep our voices and bodies in shape.

·         If you’re a talker, like me, take a break and let others do the talking sometimes.  Excessive and prolonged talking is bad for the vocal cords.

·         Avoid yelling.  We all do it.  I yell from one room to the next to get my husband’s attention, and I’m sure that most of you are guilty of the same.  Yelling can cause serious damage to our vocal cords.  Sports fans, especially, need to be aware that the yelling and cheering you do at sporting events is really bad for your voice!  I know how much we all want to cheer for our team or yell at the officials after a bad call, but we must be careful!

·         Hydrate!  Hydrate!  Hydrate!

Our voices are important.  Try to imagine living life without your voice.  It’s hard to even imagine, so please, take care of your vocal cords and help your children take care of theirs!  If you would like to read more information about vocal health visit the Texas Voice Center’s website.

Barry Manilow