Hello I'm Dr. Robert Bastian of Laryngopedia and Bastian Voice Institute. In a prior video,
I explained the concept of voice building, making an analogy with bodybuilding. The voice exercises
I suggested were an aggressive 30 seconds of "the voice of authority,"
"LONG AGO PEOPLE FOUND!" Then, the "ship ahoy voice" LONG AGO PEOPLE FOUND!" And then the "Siren."
I have suggested that each of these three exercises be done extremely loudly, and with
over-articulation emphasis of all the sounds of speech, and I–that you do that at least four times
a day. The idea was that vocal tract muscles in the larynx, here's the larynx, there are muscles
outside and inside the larynx, and here you see them within the vocal cords. But it's not just in
the vocal cords, here, these two bands, but it's also in the neck, the abdomen, the chest, the tongue, and
all of those muscles, are strengthened by this kind of challenge. You don't expect anything to happen
instantly, but you do that four times, six times a day for two weeks before assessing the benefit.
Now, after those two weeks, you might notice that you have more voice to call upon in noisy
environments, or that you have better endurance, or your voice doesn't fade as early in the day.
Well, in this video I want to add a further voice building discussion specific to persons with
Parkinson's Disease, (PD). That's because PD not only weakens the muscles of the larynx, but it
also diminishes what we call the "inner voice," the engine, the vitality, the strength of intent
of the voice is diminished. Think of it as the engine and drive train of the voice. Here,
the engine and drive train in here, as compared with the whole car–the car as a whole.
To illustrate, I have a very strong mechanism. I can do, "HEY!" And with my strong mechanism intact,
same mechanism, I can do first gear (soft), I can do second gear (medium), I can do third gear (loud) and I CAN DO FOURTH GEAR (very loud).
The mechanism is the same. What's different is the engine and drivetrain are doing different things.
So that engine and drivetrain are unseen in the car, but you do perceive it by how the car moves,
and in the larynx, you don't see the inner engine of the voice–it's unseen–but it is reflected
in the voice we hear. Well, how does this relate to PD? For persons with that disorder, the inner
engine that powers the voice, typically has trouble getting out of first gear. So others experience a
soft voice. For voice when the engine is idling, it's really quiet and lacking in energy. So persons
with PD don't necessarily sense that low energy, but that's how others experience their voice.
Now a brief aside, the same idea of the first gear–having trouble getting out of first gear—
applies to arms, legs, facial expressions, speed of walking goes down, reaction time is longer, a loud
"BANG" over there, and the typical person will do this. Persons with Parkinson's disease will kind
of look more slowly. It's called brady kinesia, or slowed movement. Well the result of the first gear
voice is, that, not only is the engine weak, but it's like the tires are a little underinflated.
You weaken the mechanism too. So if the person with PD does those bursts of voice building,
and they're going for loud and over articulation, they can do that like anyone else, but they have
to pay special attention to this idea of revving the inner engine.
Now, why do that for such a short time, several times a day? Why not just do
it for an hour a day, or even for an hour a week, or that kind of a thing?
It's because it's too boring for a lot of people to do that long of a session at once.
And furthermore, if you do it once a day you're going almost 24 hours until the next visit of
the big voice. If you do it once a week it's several days or every three days. It's several days.
If you do it for two minutes, four or six times a day, you're never very far away from that inner
voice concept of revving the motor. Not only during those exercise sessions by the way,
in the shower, while dressing, driving somewhere, but even when you're just speaking to someone, you
have to kind of rev that inner engine and imagine that you're kind of pressing or pushing the voice.
Now it's not going to come out very loudly, but it will be better for your family and
friends. You'll get at least into second gear. Now, recruit family and friends to this process.
Develop a signal–you both understand–that they can give you, saying, "come on, rev your engine!" They could
touch their ear, or they could point at their chest, meaning the engine. You know, get going, or
they could do this, and/or they could mouth the worth "engine" and then your response is to kind
of "rev the engine" and over articulate. Now they can give you a thumbs up or a thumbs down or a so-so
gesture to indicate how you were doing in case you were wrong in your own internal assessment.
Well what about "plumping the vocal cords?" The idea there is, "Well okay, fine, the engine is weak,
but what if the tires are also a little bit flat?" Well, if a person does this voice building with
attention to the inner engine–the revving–and they're able to master that. So, when requested
they can rev and the voice is still very soft then maybe consider implants. But until a person
is very good at seeing this and increasing loudness, implants wouldn't help.
Now, for some, you may now have the point of this video and not need to go any further.
But if you want a summary here's a brief summary. Number one: persons with PD have weak
muscle and they have an engine, a drivetrain that has trouble getting out of first gear.
Two: traditional voice muscle building is appropriate. Those–that "voice of authority,"
the "ship ahoy," and the "siren" is appropriate. And you're going for loudness and over
articulation, but equally crucially, persons with PD need to pay attention to the inner
vitality, that sense of revving. Get the voice into second gear, to third gear.
Get it out of park and jam on the gas. Even–if necessary–imagine that you're yelling every time
you talk to somebody. It won't come out like that, but they will get your voice much better. Vocal
cord implants are only of value in those who demonstrate that they can rev the engine and shift
into a higher gear. If you can't shift in that higher gear, implants won't help you. Use family
and friends to be your cue, to touch their ear, or point at themselves, or mouth the word "engine." And
it goes without saying–I could have said this at the very beginning–with PD, of course you're
going to manage the disorder medically as best you can, so stay in touch with your neurologist.
So in conclusion, yes, build the muscle like anyone else who's got weak muscles but in particular get
in touch with the inner engine of the voice. Rev the motor and shift from to second and third gear
and do it consistently across a period of time and see what you can accomplish. Well thank you
for listening to this video, and certainly all the best in your work towards a better voice.