Your Voice Matters – Voice Disorders. P2
Like any other muscle our voice requires care.
Consider a vocal warm up!
Most people don’t think about our voice as being something that requires care. However, our “voice box” or larynx is made up of muscles. If you would warm up or stretch before going for a run, why wouldn’t you do the same before you do a big speech?
For a brief vocal warm up consider humming through a straw – This is an exercise incorporating principles of Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract. This helps to optimally algin the vocal folds, relieve intensity of pressure coming from the lungs, and encourage efficient vocal fold vibration. Humming through a straw modifies how much air can escape the body, which allows air pressure and acoustic energy to be reflected backwards from the lips, decompressing and helping the vocal folds vibrate more easily, with less muscular effort.
Try humming your favourite song through a straw for a couple of minutes before your next big speech!
My cough just won’t go away!
What you can do if you have a chronic cough.
- Throat clearing and coughing are traumatic events for your vocal cords that can cause damage if the symptoms are not resolved quickly.
- There are lots of medical reasons for a cough such as:
- Postnasal drip syndrome
- Asthma
- GERD (Gastro oesophageal reflux disorder)
As always, if you are concerned -especially if you have recently been sick, also see your GP to rule out pulmonary disease (lung conditions), cigarette smoke exposure, and medications. If you’re sick and coughing up gunk, DON’T try to stop it!
If your cough ISN’T medically explainable then it may be wise to try and supress your cough to reduce the vocal trauma that is occurring when you cough over long periods of time.
How to supress a cough
How to improve the Laryngeal Environment. This section will be very similar to our previous posts on how to better take care of your voice!
Eliminate
- Cough drops (menthol)
- Gargling
- Dry environment
- Mouth breathing
- Dietary components that exacerbate GERD/LPR
Encourage
- Hydration/wet snacks
- Swallowing
- Increased ambient humidity
- Nasal breathing
Behavioural approaches for reducing a persistent, nonmedical cough
Raise your awareness
- Focussed attention to the physiological precursors to a cough (what feelings occur before a cough) are critical for success (e.g., tickle, dryness, stomach acid)
- Try to figure out environmental or behavioural influences (e,g,, if you work under an air conditioning vent, or if your coughing episodes happen following a long conversation on the phone)
Strategies for inhibiting a cough (in the moment)
- Take ice chips or sips of cold water
- Use a hard swallow
- Hard swallow and hold it midway
- Nasal inhalation:
- Keeps vocal folds open
- Naturally humidifies air through the nasal passage
- Redirects attention away from cough
- Count to five and see if the urge passes
- Silent giggling or breathing out in short burst (e.g. saying ‘hahaha’ under your breath to gently scratch that itchy throat)
It’s important to mention Hypersensitivity
- Some people may develop cough hypersensitivity, where it takes a lot less to set off a cough. This is a common response to colds, and it can take a while for our bodies to “reset” to a less sensitive state.
- If a dry or tickly throat sets off your cough reflex, try some of the strategies listed above.
- A hypersensitive cough reflex should settle over time.
Written by: Jonathon Cronk – Speech Pathologist
