Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Singing and Speaking Voice

I have been singing for a long time then experience a problem after being told to sing very loud with a teacher, I experienced hoarseness, I have a scope and my vocal cords were good though had some reflux which is mostly okay now, and had speech therapy. I have had SLS singing lessons and my singing voice is okay mostly, but when I go back to speaking my voice feels and sounds really uncomfortable. My singing teacher is unsure of the next step. What is the best things I can do please? Thank you. 

Melissa Kim M.S., CCC-SLP replies...
If your larynx was determined to be healthy by an Ear, Nose, and Throat physician, it is very possible that your speaking voice difficulties are secondary to muscle tension dysphonia, a general term to describe excessive and unnecessary tension of laryngeal muscles during voicing. Muscle tension dysphonia is often seen in the setting of acid reflux that impacts the larynx, in that the negative vocal results of acid reflux often result in a compensatory change in vocal technique. Treatment for this condition is voice therapy with a speech pathologist who specializes in the treatment of voice disorders; ask your physician for a referral.

Good luck!
 
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  1. Voice therapy works. I lost my voice to cancer 9 years ago. I had thyroplasty to correct it (my right recurrent laryngeal nerve was severed, so surgery was required). Following surgery, my voice was very high (worse than before, like Minnie Mouse). I had 2 hours of therapy with a speech pathologist at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, because my muscles, which were used to working overtime to try to give me any voice at all, were pushing too hard on my vocal cords. This caused the high voice. After practicing the muscle relaxation and humming techniques she taught me for 5 days, my voice came back. You'd never know I had a problem.

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