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Why Your Voice Deserves Care
Interviewer: Whether you're a teacher leading a classroom, a performer, maybe you're taking calls all day, or you're just trying to be heard over a noisy household or work site, your voice is doing more work than you might think.
Vocal health isn't just something most of us pay attention to, though, but it does play a big role in how we function every day.
Dr. Marisa Ryan is a voice and airway specialist who treats both adults and kids. And today, we're going to learn more about how to take care of our voice so it's strong, healthy, and it's ready when you need it.
Why does voice care matter, Dr. Ryan?
Dr. Ryan: I'm obviously biased because I'm a voice health professional, but I think that our voice is important for our everyday interactions with our family and friends. It's also really important to most people in their workplace, and that's whether you're a professional voice user, like a teacher or a singer, or even if you're not, you do need your voice to be able to communicate.
And I think a lot of people are judged by the way their voice sounds. If your voice sounds hoarse, people assume that you're not healthy or you're sick, and that might negatively impact your interactions with them. So I think it's important for a lot of reasons.
Signs You May Be Straining Your Voice
Interviewer: Wow. That's super insightful, because I remember my dad, towards the end of his life, was starting to lose his voice, and I know it definitely changed my perception of him, whether I wanted it to or not. So whether you're a professional or just an everyday person, the voice is super important.
What are some signs that somebody might be straining or overusing their voice?
Dr. Ryan: Initially, the voice can start sounding hoarse, meaning it's raspy or rough or harsh-sounding. Sometimes it can start to sound weaker, like you can't project to be heard, or sound breathy.
And lots of times when that happens, if you keep using your voice and you're straining to try to get your voice out, it can actually start to become uncomfortable in your throat and in your neck and feel like a sore throat, like you're sick, which you might not actually be. It might just be because you're straining and overusing your voice and your voice box and all the important muscles around it.
Everyday Habits That Can Hurt Your Voice
Interviewer: And what are some everyday things that we're doing that could possibly hurt our voice?
Dr. Ryan: Definitely overusing your voice and using it all day without taking breaks is one thing. Allowing our vocal cords and our throat to be exposed to things that are known to be harmful to the tissues in our throat, like secondhand or firsthand tobacco smoke or other things in the environment that are irritating. Not staying hydrated and allowing our voice and our vocal folds to dry out can also definitely negatively impact our voice.
Whispering and Throat-Clearing Make Things Worse
Interviewer: All right. Sometimes when people are hoarse, they'll whisper, thinking that's actually helping things out, but I've heard that's actually the worst thing you can do. Whispering is not gentle.
Dr. Ryan: Yeah, you're exactly right. Whispering actually can be more harmful and put more strain on our vocal cords. So it's better if your voice is tired or your throat is bothering you to either just rest your voice and communicate through alternative ways, like writing things down or texting. If you do have to use your voice, just try to talk in a quiet voice rather than whispering.
Interviewer: And then clearing your throat, that also can be very damaging, from what I understand.
Dr. Ryan: Exactly. When you clear your throat or when you cough excessively, you're slamming your vocal cords together pretty hard. That can be irritating and lead to blood vessels bursting in your vocal cords or even lesions developing on your vocal cords.
It seems difficult to do, but if you feel like you need to clear your throat, the best thing to do is to try to do something else, like swallow or take a sip of a drink, because clearing your throat is definitely irritating.
Interviewer: Or maybe even try to find out why you're clearing your throat. Is it acid reflux? Are they allergies? Is it a cold? Is it something else like that? I would imagine trying to just get rid of it...
Dr. Ryan: Definitely.
Simple Steps to Keep Your Voice Healthy
Interviewer: So let's talk about how to take care of your voice. I think we've established that our voice is important for those of us who use it for our work. It's important for those of us who don't use it for our work, connecting to people, just being able to communicate with people. And it's something that we should take care of just like we take care of the rest of our body. What are some things we can do to make sure that our voice is healthy?
#1. Stay Hydrated
Dr. Ryan: There are several easy things that you can do at home. One is to stay adequately hydrated. You don't want to over-hydrate, but our vocal cords need to vibrate. They need to have a normal amount of thin mucus on them to vibrate optimally. So staying hydrated by drinking a lot of non-caffeinated, non-alcoholic beverages can help.
And then when you do drink caffeinated or alcoholic beverages, it's making sure that you're having additional things like water with it to counteract the drying effects.
#2. Use a Nebulizer
Another thing that I recommend a lot, especially here in Utah, because the air is so dry, is doing nebulizing, and nebulizing sterile salt water. You can either get a medical-grade nebulizer or even just get a personal-use nebulizer to essentially breathe in saltwater steam. And that can help a lot, especially in dry environments like here.
Interviewer: Is a nebulizer like a humidifier?
Dr. Ryan: So humidifiers are great, too. Those are awesome to have, particularly near where you sleep, since you spend so much time sleeping. But a nebulizer is actually something that you intermittently breathe the steamed salt water in. It is a little bit more intensive and can be helpful in addition to having a humidifier.
#3. Build in Vocal Rest
Interviewer: Talk to us about vocal rest and breaks. What does resting your voice really look like during a busy day?
Dr. Ryan: So sometimes you have to talk, if you're recording a podcast, or giving a Zoom meeting, or talking with clients. Obviously, you have to use your voice in those situations. But you should definitely take periodic breaks during the day when you don't have to be using your voice, just to rest it and not use it.
Just the same way, if you were doing exercise or physical activity and you're getting tired and fatigued or your muscle is getting tired, you would take a break and take a rest before you do your next set or your next exercise. You really should do the same thing with your voice.
#4. Smart Speaking Techniques
Interviewer: And what are some techniques... So you'd rest, but are there some techniques that, during my day, while I am using my voice that could help preserve my voice, make it be able to last longer, like some smart speaking techniques?
Dr. Ryan: One thing is to try to minimize a lot of background noise that you're having to speak over or to strain to be heard. Another thing, especially if you're speaking a lot to a group, is using a microphone or amplification so you're not having to strain and project your voice. You can let the microphone do that work for you.
Interviewer: Yeah. And sometimes personally, I have noticed when I'm even working in a classroom or something like that, I do use my voice a lot, but I tend to probably speak more loudly than I have to.
So that's one of the things I try to keep in mind: what is the appropriate amount of loudness? I think we get into performance mode a little bit, and I imagine people answering phones are like that or whatnot. I would imagine that helps as well.
Dr. Ryan: Definitely.
Triggers That Irritate Your Voice
Interviewer: And then what are some triggers that you would want to avoid? I think we discussed briefly, acid reflux can cause potential vocal cord issues. Are there other physical things going on that somebody would want to look into that would help preserve their voice?
Dr. Ryan: Yeah, definitely. Acid reflux, or what we sometimes call silent reflux, where it actually comes all the way up into your throat and irritates your throat, is important to control.
Allergies, things in the environment that cause allergies like itchy eyes, runny nose, sneezing, can also cause similar types of irritation in your throat. Also, if there's drainage going down the back of your nose, whether it be from allergies or untreated sinus issues, then that can irritate the throat further.
We talked about dry air and how that can be irritating, especially dry air that doesn't have the best air quality, as we have around here.
And then other things that you can inhale like tobacco smoke, whether it be firsthand or secondhand, vape fumes, other things like that, are definitely triggering voice problems and irritating to the throat.
How Vocal Warm-Ups Can Help Everyone
Interviewer: Is there such a thing as vocal warm-ups for us amateurs or people who aren't performers?
Dr. Ryan: Definitely. For anyone who uses their voice or has voice problems, vocal warm-ups can be really helpful. And I think that's where working with a voice-trained speech-language pathologist can be really helpful, because they can listen to your voice and do an analysis and determine what vocal warm-ups could be most helpful for you.
When to See a Specialist About Voice Problems
Interviewer: As we wrap up, are there any final thoughts that you have or something you'd want to make sure that somebody took away from our conversation today?
Dr. Ryan: Definitely. I think trying to stay ahead of any voice problems by optimizing hydration and avoiding irritation, and resting your voice when it seems tired is really important.
And if you're doing all those things and still having voice problems, then it's probably time to get it checked by a vocal professional to make sure there's not something else going on or something else that you can do to optimize your voice.