Your Voice, Your Choice, Part 2

By Abby White

THINGS TO AVOID AND HABITS TO ADOPT

Your everyday behavior has a huge impact on your voice. If you spend hours slouching at your desk, or yelling into a telephone, across an office or in a smoky bar, you’re asking for trouble.

The environmental irritants are obvious, but we’ll go over them anyway. You know what smoking does to your voice (and I could include an in-depth medical description involving words such as “histologic” and “epithelial"), but performing or even hanging out in an area where there’s a lot of cigarette smoke will have an adverse effect on your voice. Other pollutants and allergens can also harm your voice, and you can alleviate these problems by breathing through your nose as opposed to your mouth (the nose filters warms and humidifies the incoming air, while “mouth breathing” tends to dry
you out), or by using certain medications
that we’ll get into later.

Speaking of medications, if you’re taking any kind of medication, ask your doctor how it might affect your voice. For example, even over-the-counter aspirin can be harmful, as it can trigger vocal fold hemorrhages. The antihistamines that combat your allergies can cause dryness, which will oft en intensify hoarseness. If you use an inhaler to treat asthmatic symptoms, the propellant in the inhaler can provoke laryngitis. Using local anesthetics such as throat spray or lozenges (choose glycerin-based rather than mentholated as they are more effective at soothing and hydrating) may off er temporary relief, but the anesthetic effect can encourage more vocal abuse since the signs of injury are masked.

“Topical analgesics are dangerous for singers because they reduce sensation in the larynx,” says Dr. Morgan. “It may result in temporary pain relief, but a singer is at greater risk of damaging the vocal folds if there is not good sensation of the larynx.” Dr. Hooper concurs, “I am very much against any product which hides pain. If your vocal fold area is numb, you have a greater chance of vocal abuse. This could result in a hemorrhage of the vocal fold. Long-term, a singer could develop a larger nodule or career-ending polyp. Try to avoid throat sprays with ‘caine’ at the end of the name—they make you feel numb, and feel better, which may cause you to keep talking or singing when you should rest the voice.” In addition, many medical professionals are suspicious of these products because there simply isn’t enough research concerning their effects. Dr. Christopher Watts, of the University of Southern Alabama in Mobile, remarks, “At this point I don’t personally recommend alternative medicines to my patients, as the research on safety and effectiveness is lacking in this area related to vocal health.” Watts comments that while some of his singing patients have praised the benefits of Slippery Elm—a natural emollient that can be found in health food stores and in teas such as Traditional Medicinal’s Throat Coat—"Patients must understand that there has been no objective documentation testing the effectiveness of this or any other alternative medicine product for discomfort associated with vocal abuse.”

As Dr. Martin Spencer, Clinic Director at Ohio State University’s Voice Institute in Columbus, remarks, “The best product, which may be in short supply, is common sense.” Your mom/teacher/choir director probably yelled at you about your posture, and it’s not just because slouching makes you look like a sloth. Proper posture is essential for breath support when you are singing, even if you’re perched at your desk on the phone—if you’re speaking or breathing, you’re using the respiratory muscles in your abdomen and chest, so don’t spend the day hunched over. Remember, when one muscle isn’t working at its optimal level, another part of the body has to compensate and attempt to do a job it wasn’t designed to do.

You probably don’t seek out anxiety, so telling you to avoid it is a little ridiculous. However, if no physical cause for your affliction can be determined, it’s possible that vocal dysfunction can result from anxiety, sometimes manifested in “stage fright.” When psychological factors such as anxiety are the cause of a voice disorder, treatment from a psychiatrist or psychologist may be necessary in conjunction with vocal therapy.

Many singers avoid dairy like the plague, and some people will experience thicker mucosal secretions, also known as phlegm, after ingesting milk products. Not to undermine the “Got Milk?” campaign, but if you’ve noticed that it’s a problem for you, it’s probably best to avoid dairy prior to performing. And while it looks cool to sip whiskey onstage, alcohol dries out your vocal cords, so keep plenty of water nearby if Jack Daniel’s is an indispensable part of your set. Lastly, Dr. Hooper advises, “Anything that wears out the nervous system is not good for the vocal athlete. This includes not getting enough sleep, talking through a cold, and overdoing allergy meds.”

Now that you know some habits to avoid, here are some examples of habits for optimal vocal care—many of which you’re most likely aware of, whether you do them or not. Not to sound like a broken record, but hydration is absolutely essential. According to Dr. Morgan, “This means drinking beverages that do not contain caffeine or alcohol. Both of those are diuretics that deplete tissue hydration.” Morgan recommends that performers drink at least 48 ounces of water a day. Also, always set aside enough time to warm up your voice effectively, as you would any other muscle in your body in preparation for strenuous activity. While the types and duration of warming up may vary from singer to singer, about 10 minutes is the minimum. Also take caution not to oversing in rehearsal—if you can, mark it. When performing, make sure you are properly amplified, and employ a good sound technician who has access to a decent PA and monitors.

We’ve mentioned a bit about proper speaking and singing techniques and good vocal hygiene, and these methods are most effective when taught by a medical professional through supervised vocal therapy. You’ll learn to use your voice with as little effort and tension as possible, adopting these habits into your everyday speech patterns. These include speaking softly with a higher pitch (low speaking pitch strains the voice), employing soft onsets to your words, and learning to relax unnecessarily tense muscles in the neck and larynx. You’ll also learn more efficient ways to breathe and use the optimum breath support for vocalization, which includes employing proper abdominal support; allowing for adequate breaths between words (it’s straining if you talk until you’re out of breath, as other muscles have to compensate for the lack of breath support); and maintaining a smooth and uninterrupted fl w when speaking. According to Dr. Ossoff , “Singers should never feel effort in the throat or neck when they sing or speak. The sensation of effort is a sign of too much work to produce the sound.”

(Next: Prevention and Treatment; Diagnosis and Vocal Therapy)