We rely on our voices to inform, persuade, and connect with other people. Our voice is as unique as our fingerprint. Many people we know use their voices all day long, day in and day out. Singers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, sales people, and public speakers are among those who make great demands on their voices. Unfortunately, these individuals are most prone to experiencing voice problems. It is believed that 7.5 million people have diseases or disorders of voice.
There are many different reasons why your voice may sound hoarse or abnormal from time to time, and some of these reasons are things that you can not really control. An example would be catching a common cold virus that causes laryngitis. Sure, you can wash your hands frequently and try to avoid people with colds, but virtually everyone catches a cold with a bit of laryngitis now and again. What you probably did not know is that there are steps you can take to prevent many voice problems. The following steps are helpful for anyone who wants to keep their voice healthy, but are particularly important for people who have an occupation, such as teaching, that is heavily voice-related:
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Drink your water: Drinking enough water every day is important and does not include things that have alcohol or caffeine. Water hydrates the body and keeps skin and muscles at their best, but if you add alcohol and caffeine, it dries out the body. Keeping yourself hydrated means keeping your throat hydrated, too.
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Breathe properly: One of the first lessons you will have when you start learning how to sing is learning how to breathe. Singers need to breathe from the diaphragm in order to protect your voice. If you talk or sing from your throat, without the support of a breath, you will put a strain on your voice.
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Do not abuse or misuse your voice: Your voice is not indestructible. In every day communication, be sure to avoid habitual yelling, screaming, or cheering. Try not to talk loudly in locations with significant background noise or noisy environments. Be aware of your background noise; when it becomes noisy, significant increases in voice volume occur naturally, causing harm to your voice. If you feel like your throat is dry, tired, or your voice is becoming hoarse, stop talking.
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Warm Up: Warm up your voice before heavy use. Most people know that singers warm up their voices before a performance, yet many don't realize the need to warm up the speaking voice before heavy use, such as teaching a class, preaching, or giving a speech. Warm-ups can be simple, such as gently gliding from low to high tones on different vowel sounds, doing lip trills (like the motorboat sound that kids make), or tongue trills.
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Be sure to get proper nutrition: It is important to eat a balanced diet at all times, but especially during times when you know you will be using your voice a lot. When you have a big performance coming up, avoid eating large quantities of salty, sugary, and spicy foods. You should also limit your consumption of alcohol and caffeine. Because your body needs extra amounts of water to metabolize all of these foods, you are likely to rob your vocal cords of much needed moisture if you are not careful with your diet. A dry throat not only feels and sounds dry; it is at risk for sustaining real damage if you do not do what you can to replace lost moisture.
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Avoid spicy food: Avoiding certain foods, drinks, and behaviors are included in developing healthy voice habits. They may taste good, but spicy food can result in stomach acid moving back up into the throat causing problems for your voice.
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Do not smoke: This advice goes along with learning to breathe, because smoking hinders your ability to breathe properly and irritates the throat. Yet, avoiding smoking also means avoiding second hand smoke. Any contact with smoke will cause throat irritation.
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Avoid Mouthwash: You will also need to avoid things like mouthwash. Mouthwash contains alcohol and other chemicals that can irritate your throat. If you have to gargle, try to use a salt-water solution rather than mouthwash.
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Avoid throat clearing or harsh coughing: Repeated throat clearing or harsh coughing can damage delicate vocal fold tissues. When you clear your throat too often, the friction between the air and the mucous membrane in the airway passages may increase and lead to swelling and inflammation. The safest way to clear the throat is to sharply sniff and then swallow. If you feel you must clear the throat, then do so silently without any voice at all.
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Listen to your voice: When your voice is complaining to you, listen to it. Know that you need to modify and decrease your voice use if you become hoarse in order to allow your vocal cords to recover. Pushing your voice when it's already hoarse can lead to significant problems. If your voice is hoarse frequently, or for an extended period of time, you should be evaluated by an Otolaryngologist (Ear, Nose, and Throat physician).
With a little planning and a lot of common sense, you should be able to keep your voice healthy for a long time to come.
