Caring for Your Voice When You Speak for a Living
We’ve all heard horror stories about singers losing their voices; Adele famously required surgery to treat nodes on her vocal cords. Because of this, vocal health and safety is one of the primary focuses of singing lessons, but singers aren’t the only professional voice users who need to protect and care for their instruments. Talking can cause just as much vocal strain, wear, and tear as singing - sometimes more so, because we often take our speaking voices for granted.
Zelda’s student, Joy, first came to Love Your Voice for singing lessons, but the added attention paid to her vocal habits made her increasingly aware that she was ending her workday with a sore, tired voice. Joy is an elementary school teacher and spends a significant portion of her day speaking to (and, oftentimes, over) a classroom full of enthusiastic children while simultaneously guiding remote learners via Zoom; she’s just as much of a professional voice user as any singer, lawyer, public speaker, or sales person.
When you work in a setting that requires frequent and strenuous voice use like a classroom, you can’t just go on vocal rest for a week. Luckily, rest is only one aspect of the three part solution to vocal fatigue that we share below!
Rest
The most sure-fire way to ease vocal strain is vocal rest, but that can feel like a daunting task when you need to speak for a living. Rest doesn’t have to mean taking a vow of silence for a month and donning a monk’s habit, though. Just like you might sneak a few moments of practice into any extra time in your day, you can sneak a few moments of vocal rest in between the moments you have to use your voice.
If you have the option to email or text rather than making a phone call, take it. Not all conversations can happen over text, of course; if you have to speak over the phone or face to face, speak softly but audibly. Make sure you're not speaking in your vocal fry (the lower, croaky part of your speaking voice); while speaking in your vocal fry register won’t cause permanent damage to your voice, it has been linked to vocal fatigue and laryngeal tension. Using a higher vocal register is gentler on your vocal cords and encourages you to engage your breath support which can not only lessen your fatigue, but can also help you project without shouting if you’re speaking to a group or classroom.
Sometimes, slight adjustments to your environment can do as much to promote vocal rest as changing your behavior. In Joy’s case, she was teaching in the classroom and online simultaneously. Her original desk set-up had her computer directly in front of her, creating both a visual and auditory barrier between her and her in-school students. Shifting her computer a little bit to the side allowed her to engage more directly with both groups of learners - and the in-person learners paid more attention and required less talking over as a result. She was also able to lower the volume on her computer, allowing her to speak to her classroom students without shouting over her online students. Thanks to these small changes, her overall speaking volume and strain decreased.
Our friend Joy, coming to us from her quieter, happier classroom!
Rejuvenation
If you’ve ever worked a desk job, you might already be in the habit of taking regular stretch breaks to reduce back pain and improve cardio-vascular health. You can apply the same practice to your vocal health by doing the straw phonation exercise a few times a day.
Just as standing up and stretching can reduce tension in the muscles that are working overtime to maintain your posture, straw phonation can help relax the tiny muscles in your throat that have been working hard to help you speak. The only tools required are a straw and your voice. You can learn this 3-minute vocal rejuvenation technique for free by joining our mailing list.
In addition to straw phonation, drinking warm, decaffeinated liquids throughout the day can help soothe a tired voice. Herbal teas like chamomile, ginger, lemon, cinnamon, or rooibos are a great option that won’t dry out or irritate your vocal cords like caffeine. Just remember that citrus can be irritating if your voice is already tired and strained.
Prevention
The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” holds true for vocal fatigue. Some simple lifestyle changes can lessen your vocal fatigue before it happens.
Start your day with some gentle warmups. Much like warming up before exercise, a few simple vocal exercises can prime your voice for a day of work.
Dietary choices can also play a pretty dramatic role in your vocal health. Alcoholic and caffeinated beverages can dry out your throat and are common triggers for acid reflux - which will definitely leave you with a sore, croaky voice. We certainly couldn’t give up our morning coffee, but limiting consumption to once a day, paying attention to symptoms of acid reflux, and subbing in low-caffeine or caffeine-free tea throughout the day can help reduce vocal strain before it starts.
In addition to paying attention to what you’re drinking, make sure your diet as whole isn’t contributing to your vocal fatigue. Dairy, acidic, and high fat foods are common triggers for acid reflux. Other foods like grains are common causes of inflammation in some but not all people. Talk to your doctor (and your body) before making any dietary changes. Not everyone will experience issues with dairy or grains or tomatoes - and plenty of folks have issues with foods that rarely make the list of common inflammatory foods; but if you’re experiencing frequent vocal fatigue after work, it’s worth checking in with your body to see if anything you’re eating is negatively affecting your voice.
Underpinning all of it is good sleep. Trust us, we know getting a solid 7.5 to 8 hours can be a challenge, particularly if you struggle with insomnia, but it’s worth making the effort. A well rested body means a well rested voice as well as supporting overall mental and physical health.
Putting It All Together
Reducing and preventing vocal strain requires a combination of rest, rejuvenation, and prevention. The balance of these will depend on your body and your lifestyle, but the key to all of it is paying attention to your body. When you start to notice that your voice is raspy, tired, or hoarse, that’s your signal to take a moment to rest or rejuvenate. Keep track of what behaviors contribute to tiredness: did you spend most of your day trying to speak over a loud room? Did you just drink your fourth cup of coffee today? Did you spend last night tossing and turning? Are you always a little hoarse after eating dairy?
Book a Lesson and Learn How To Care For Your Voice
If you need help figuring out the best strategy for your voice, set up a voice lesson with a voice teacher like Zelda who has experience working with speech and accents. A teacher can help you identify when you’re speaking in vocal fry, tailor rejuvenation exercises to your specific needs, or can help you develop a morning warm up routine.
Whether you teach, sing, litigate, or sell; take time to love your body and love your voice!
Book a lesson with Zelda today to start your healthy speaking journey!
Mention this article for a 20% discount on your first lesson.
Sources
https://leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR2.21022016.50
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1808869415306790