- Did you know that a simple sneeze
can cause your vocal folds to rupture and hemorrhage?
It's true.
But fortunately these occurrences are rare
and can generally be avoided by only allowing
the sneeze to occur unstifled.
Did you also know that there is a range of things
that you might be unwittingly doing each and every day
causing your vocal health
to live on the edge of catastrophe?
Keep watching because this video is going to equip you
with the information you need
to save your voice from disaster.
- [Female] Sound check.
Check one, check two.
G'day there.
Welcome back to "Voice Essentials".
If you're new here, hi my name is Dr. Dan
and I'm a Contemporary Singing Voice Specialist.
For the past twenty-something years
I've been helping voices big and small
to avoid vocal wear and tear.
Not only with great technique,
but with the knowledge we're going to cover today.
No human voice is impervious
to fatigue, sickness, or overuse.
Consequently, every human voice is susceptible to damage
if the voice user knowingly abuses
or unintentionally misuses their voice.
It's all too easy to treat our voices
like an infinite resource.
From the moment we were born, our voice has been there,
but that doesn't necessarily mean it will always be there.
Many of you watching this video may have experienced
losing your voice.
Now, this may have been as a result of viral laryngitis
or maybe even because you got over-excited
while attending a sporting event.
Complete voice loss known as Aphonia
and partial voice loss labeled Dysphonia
is rather debilitating
and can affect your work, rest, and play.
If you lose your voice because of sickness,
such as the common cold and flu,
it's essential to rest the voice.
The great temptation during these times is to whisper.
And actually whispering while you're sick
can lead to vocal complications because during sickness,
the vocal folds are more than likely swollen.
Therefore, vulnerable to the rubbing action
that whispering activates.
And during times of Dysphonia or partial voice loss,
it can be tempting to respond by merely
applying more effort to the sounds to achieve near normal
phonatory output.
Typically, this level of exertion is paramount
to yelling and quickly causes wear and tear,
endangering the health of the voice further.
Funnily enough, we can subconsciously overexert the voice
when we found ourselves in loud environments
such as cafes, classrooms, or the car.
Yes, your car.
Unfortunately, your car, believe it or not,
is a tremendously loud space,
and therefore it makes for a less than ideal place
to make phone calls or even sing.
I've disappointed more than my fair share
of singing students with the knowledge that
warming up in the car is a big no-no.
Now fortunately, there are some tremendous warmup habits
that will get you better results
and we'll cover those in a moment.
Actually, there are quite a few things
we are gonna cover in this video,
so I've designed an infographic for you to download
free from my website.
This free info sheet will help to remind you
of all the things we'll cover in today's video.
So, be sure to place it somewhere handy
where you'll frequently be prompted
by its voice-saving info.
Now, besides avoiding loud environments like your car,
it's best to avoid spaces where the air carries
high levels of pollutants, such as smoke or dust.
These fine molecules are inhaled on the air
and distribute throughout your vocal tract,
across the surface of your vocal folds and into your lungs.
Nasty stuff.
In fact, where possible you should avoid inhaling
any air that is contaminated with particles
beyond the natural mix of oxygen and nitrogen
that our bodies are designed to breathe.
So, smoking tobacco, mariajuana, and even vaping
should be avoided, or at the very least,
reduced in frequency.
Sometimes it can be challenging to monitor the air quality
that we breathe.
But for the most part, we can control what we eat and drink.
And this is important because what we consume
can have significant impacts on the health of our voice.
The most crucial fluid we can put into our body is water.
If you're serious about your vocal health
then drinking at least eight glasses of water everyday
will go a long way to keeping your voice well lubricated.
We do have to measure this
against diarrhetics like alcohol though
because a nice cold beer or refreshing glass of wine
will take out more hydration than they put in.
The other thing about alcohol is that it is somewhat acidic,
especially spirits.
So it heightens the risk of reflux.
Now, reflux is most often experienced
as indigestion or heartburn.
Known as GERD, this common form of reflux
can cause havoc with the voice
due to the bubbling up of the acidic stomach juices.
It's nastier cousin, LPR, Laryngopharyngeal reflux,
sometimes referred to as silent reflux or singer's reflux
is generally at its worst while we sleep
because the horizontal position allows the acids
to flow up the esophagus,
coating the rear of the larynx in acid.
Both GERD and LPR require the avoidance of things like
spicy foods, coffee, carbonated drinks, and yes alcohol.
And it's right about now
that some of you are thinking to yourselves,
Dr. Dan, you're a killjoy!
I know, there are many disciplines we need to employ
in life to live well.
And in this case, speak and sing well.
So far we've mostly talked about what not to do.
So it's time to get proactive
with some things that we can do.
Let's start with sleeping more.
Now, sleeping can be a funny thing.
You can be at work and by mid-afternoon all you want to do
is crawl up in a corner and take a nap.
But then, when it comes to actually
going to bed late at night we procrastinate,
thus reducing our sleeping hours to the bare minimum.
Only to repeat the unfortunate cycle the next day.
Your voice needs you to sleep.
Why?
Well because your voice isn't just your larynx.
Your entire body is your voice.
If your body is living tired
then your voice is living tired.
And we've already seen what happens to a tired voice.
So, tonight do your voice a favor and get to bed
at a reasonable hour.
The second thing you can do is eliminate
any habitual (clears throat) throat clearing.
Many of us clear the throat constantly
without even realizing it.
Frequent throat clearing is wearing on the voice
and causes the vocal folds to be in a constant state
of protective swelling.
Not good.
Now thirdly, be more mindful of your hearing.
Your ears and your voice are interlinked in countless ways.
How you use your voice can be, in part,
intrinsically connected to your hearing health.
Many of us have had our eyes tested,
but I wonder whether you've ever taken the time
to have your hearing tested.
If you're a singer I highly recommend
paying more attention to your ears, and where necessary,
using noise reduction buds for loud spaces
and in-ear monitors when you perform.
Another area of your life that you may not have connected
to your vocal health is your sex life.
Oral health is super important
when seeking to maintain vocal health.
Sexual practices that expose the mouth to bacteria
simultaneously heighten the risk of infections
like oral thrush.
Pay attention to where you put your mouth.
Enough said.
Talking of your mouth, during flu season
our TVs and social media are bombarded by advertisements
for medicated lozenges.
In my experience,
if you need to use the voice while it is sick
try to avoid medicated lozenge.
The numbing effect certainly reduces pharyngeal pain,
but it also removes the indicators
that help us to mitigate vocal use.
If your vocal tract is sore enough to need
a medicated lozenge
then it is sore enough to not speak or sing.
You may have noticed just then that I indicated
that if you're sick you shouldn't be using your voice.
Well, it's a little more nuanced than that.
But, in general, if your voice is sore
and if you can hear a change in your typical spoken sound
then the chances are you should zip it and rest the voice
until the sickness passes.
Have you also noticed that much of what we've discussed
in the video thus far requires mindful awareness
of the voice?
Most people merely go through life opening their mouths
and hoping for the best
and this includes many singers.
But, blissful ignorance does not protect your voice
from falling into disrepair.
What will go along way towards ensuring the voice
against wilful damage
is the development of proper singing technique.
And on this note, you might like to check out
the free preview of my online singing course
Voice Essentials 1
via the link in the description section below.
The more time we spend with our voice,
the more familiar we become with small changes.
Not only in the sound, but also in the physical changes
of the muscular scaffolding of the shoulders, neck, and jaw.
For example, the modern practice of looking down
at your mobile device for hours on end
causes your neck muscles to work overtime.
Your larynx is housed within the neck
so being aware of poor alignment
primarily through the torso, shoulders, and neck
is essential if you want to use your voice well.
Again, we can learn to become more aware of these things
if we spend time developing our vocal technique.
Another benefit of vocal technique,
whether it be for speaking or for singing,
is improvements in stamina.
You might like to think of it this way.
Every voice has a vocal budget to spend
each and every day.
Everyone's budget is different depending on their age,
well-being and other various factors.
But the good news is you can increase your budget
with great technique.
The more you have to spend
the less likely you are to live your vocal life in credit.
We all know what happens to people who live on credit.
Eventually they can go bankrupt.
Get your voice back in the black.
Develop your vocal technique.
There are, of course, a range of things
that can happen with the voice
over which we have no control.
Ladies, take for intance your hormones.
Yes, those dastardly hormones can have a significant
impact on the female voice.
It's estimated that about 30% of women experience
noticeable changes in the voice
during their menstrual cycle.
And symptoms of pre-menstrual voice syndrome,
or PMVS for short,
include reduction in range, insecure pitch accuracy,
and for some varying levels of dysphonia.
Ladies, if any of these ring true for you
then I would advise speaking with
your licensed health care professional
about how you might mitigate the symptoms of PMVS.
Also worth noting is the impact of hormonal fluctuations
during pregnancy and menopause.
The effect of menopause on the voice can be significant,
but you needn't suffer the effects alone.
There are excellent online support groups
for female singers who are traveling through
this change of life.
If you're interested I'll leave a link
in the description section below
to one such group for you to check out later.
The emotional toll of inconsistent voice
due to ever-changing hormones
can cause heighten levels of despair,
but as we know mental health issues
such as anxiety and depression
are actually no respecter of gender, age, or race.
We also know that performers
are highly prone to poor mental health
due to the constant rollercoaster
of adrenaline-fueled emotions.
Again, if you are or anyone you know is suffering
from mental health challenges
I encourage you to seek care
from a licensed healthcare professional.
In this particular instance
there is more than your vocal health at stake.
Speaking of vocal health, you might have been watching
this video and thinking to yourself,
geez, I'm ticking a number of these boxes
and now I'm concerned that I might have damaged my voice.
Well, firstly, here's the good news.
Your voice is wonderfully resilient
and more often than not it will bounce back
even after misuse.
The bad news is there are times when the voice
doesn't rebound like we hoped it would.
And generally speaking, my advice to you is
if after two weeks your voice is still not fully recovered
after a period of illness or heightened use
then book yourself in with Laryngologist
for a full vocal assessment.
Your friendly Laryngologist will be able to look at
the current health of your voice
and direct you along a path of recovery.
Which may, in turn, include visiting a speech pathologist,
and a singing voice specialist like me
to assist your vocal rehabilitation.
Personally, I think prevention is always better than cure
and that is why I always advise a discipline
of vocal warmups before placing a voice under load.
There's more to a vocal warmup than meets the ear or eye.
So click on this video if you'd like to learn more
about how to do a proper vocal warmup
and I'll guide you through the process step-by-step.
I'll see you again in a moment.
I'm Dr. Dan.
Sing well.