Resources

This is general advice on issues that may impact on your voice quality.  Some of these are particularly relevant if you are getting, have or have had a cold or if your voice feels a little ‘tired out’.  Remember, the inside of your vocal folds are muscles, the things which make them move (open/close, lengthen/shorten for pitch change etc.) are muscles but are very small.  Look after these in the same way as you do the big ones!

 

• Avoid shouting or whispering.  Speak in an easy relaxed manner not forcing the voice in any way. Think “conversational voice”.

 

• Avoid coughing & clearing your throat as much as possible as the vocal folds bash together when you do this.  Try swallowing hard, sipping water or suck a boiled (non-medicated) sweet.

 

• Try to avoid hot/dry, smoky, dusty atmospheres as these can cause throat dryness e.g., dust, air con, fumes, smoking, central heating.  Other things which are known to dry the throat are alcohol (spirits especially) & some medications e.g. antihistamines.  Don’t panic!  Just be aware and drink water to counterbalance the drying effects.  If you use inhalers for Asthma, please use a spacer or rinse your mouth after using them.

 

• Keep drinks containing caffeine to a minimum as caffeine can increase vocal tension (stimulant) & can dry your throat.  Keep to about 3-4 cups a day maximum.  PEE PALE!

 

• IN SOME PEOPLE dairy products can make the mucus in the mouth thicker.  This is due, in cow’s milk, to a protein called Casein.  Sheep or Goat products are usually better.  Temporary helpers for thinning mucus are Liquorice, Papaya and Pineapple.  Similarly, your body might not like certain foods (e.g., spicy), or eating late, or having big gaps between meals.  If you do suffer from indigestion (or reflux) then there are things you can do to help this. The British Voice Association Website has a great leaflet on this. Get to know YOUR body & its reaction to certain foodstuffs.  Don’t just follow the crowd – make sure you treat the cause as well as the symptom.

 

• If you catch a cold & end up with a sore throat; rest, reduce the amount of speaking, use it gently but do not whisper.  Inhale steam at least twice a day (see below), increase your water intake & don’t gargle with aspirin.  If the back of your throat looks red and/or your tonsils have white spots on them, you might want to gargle with a mild salt water solution.  This helps “clean” the area.  Avoid medicated throat lozenges or sprays – they make you feel better but don’t DO anything & you end up using your voice more thinking it’s ok when it’s not.  The cold may cause your vocal folds to swell & this changes your vocal quality (think post night out voice!), accept this & use the hints here to help reduce the swelling.  Do other work like mouthing text, working on meaning, research, learning music etc.  Acknowledge you are ill, do what you can do & don’t worry about what you can’t change (you may find Echinacea, Vitamin C & Zinc helpful).  Focus on listening & the message.

 

• If you have persistent mucus, it’s good to get to the cause rather than just treat the symptom.  Tension can play a part, or the larynx could be irritated and the mucus is produced to help soothe that.  Mucus can hang around after a cold. Products which contain Guaifenesin can be good (Beechams, Benylin, cough and cold products – check the label) but should only be used as a temporary helper.  Nasal douche is good using mild salt water (there are various products also available e.g. Sinurinse) and a Neti pot is usually the best way to get the solution into you – plenty of YouTube videos!

 

• If you have a dry throat, sip water at regular intervals or suck a boiled sweet/fruit pastille but not one which has anaesthetic qualities as we then can’t tell how we are using our voice. Honey is soothing.

 

• Tiredness & stress will affect your voice in the same way as it would any other muscular activity.  Check you are on support, monitor your alignment, your head & neck position, get the voice going with buzzing sounds or lip trilling & take care not to clamp down on the sound & words in the mouth i.e. keep the jaw free & form the consonants & vowels cleanly.  

 

• Sleep and rest – don’t battle through – the compensatory tension you bring in to “help you through” is much harder to resolve later down the line.

 

• Total voice rest is usually only indicated following certain known damage to the vocal folds or after vocal fold surgery.  However, mini voice rests are a good idea e.g. 5 minutes each hour if possible.  You can use this time to work on body stretches and resets and breath work.   If you have worked your voice hard for a couple of hours, rest it to help recovery, build that recovery time into your day/routine.  It can take a while to improve vocal quality particularly when ill.  PATIENCE! The quicker you introduce good vocal practice into everyday speaking, the sooner the voice will return.

 

• Steam inhalation daily (twice daily or more if you are ill) is an excellent way of hydrating the laryngeal area as the steam hydrates the whole area; it also thins out sticky mucus/catarrh.  A towel over your nose & mouth or the whole head & then over a bowl of hot NOT BOILING water is the cheapest way to do this.  You might want to put the bowl on some books to raise it up so you don’t get a crick in your neck.  There are also some commercial steamers, read the reviews and ask around.  AVOID MENTHOL.  You must steam for a minimum of 5 minutes otherwise it is not worth doing. Stop when there is no more steam or when you have had enough!  Don’t steam within two hours of a performance as this may move the mucus around & get in the way of the closure of the vocal folds.​ * * * HEALTH & SAFETY ALERT * * * ! Care with boiling water! 

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• Keep your bedroom & working spaces humidified.  If the central heating is on it can dry the atmosphere.  Put a bowl of water near radiators or a damp towel on them.  Ceramic humidifiers are reasonably inexpensive but remember to top them up!  

 

• THE MOST IMPORTANT & BEST THING TO DO IS TO DRINK WATER.  Aim to drink over 2 litres a day & make this a regular habit.  Water is needed for circulation & cooling off.  Please drink in small sips, if you take too much at once, your bladder will not be able to cope.  Small sips replace the water we lose through the skin, speaking and via sweating, we lose it slowly so think about replacing it slowly.   Drink beyond your natural thirst.  You may find it difficult to drink so much at first, start by increasing the amount slowly.  There are various Apps available to remind you to drink water and to monitor your intake.  Your hydration levels can be monitored via your urine – as mentioned earlier PEE PALE!  

 

• Warm up the voice before a full day of use, keep it flexible in the day and at the end of the day cool down the voice so that the muscles get a chance to return to normal functioning and don’t get stuck in one way of working.  You would stretch out your body before and after a workout – the voice is a muscle – do the same.  Include body stretches in the warmup and cool down – think of this as resetting your body, muscles, and voice after a workout.  We carry all sorts of tensions with us as part of our daily life, do something different to release your muscles.  Gentle stretches during the day are a good way to reset ourselves physically and mentally.

 

• By all means treat any symptoms you have but investigate the cause - always ask WHY? and don’t forget to check your mental health

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Further useful information and leaflets can be found at the British Voice Association: https://britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/resources/

 

* Compliments of Mel Mehta, Specialist Speech & Language Therapist and speaking voice coach.