Voice Care Tips
- Actually listen to yourself. Hoarseness can indicate something as simple as allergies or as serious as laryngeal cancer. If your hoarseness lasts more than a few weeks, particularly if you smoke or if you have no other cold-like symptoms, make an appointment with a voice specialist. Monitor your voice. If your voice is hoarse or your throat starts to feel scratchy due to overuse, rest your voice as much as possible – and drink water to help lubricate your vocal folds.
- Quit smoking for good. Tobacco, nicotine, chemicals and inhaled heat can create inflammation and swelling and cause cancer of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs. Quit chewing and quit smoking. It’s bad for your health in the short- and long-term.
- Don’t let drinking alcohol dry you out. Drink alcohol and caffeine in moderation, as their dehydrating effects can strain your vocal folds. Drink one glass of water for each cup of coffee or alcoholic beverage you imbibe to avoid dehydration.
- Turn down the volume. Watch out when yelling at games. Avoid screaming, cheering loudly and talking over very loud noise because they put unnecessary strain on the vocal folds, and at times can damage the voice. If you must yell, keep it brief. Use a little bit of loud voice, and then bring it back to a conversational level.
- Warm up those pipes. Before you teach, give a speech or sing, do neck and shoulder stretches, hum for a while or glide from low to high tones using different vowel sounds.
- Get relief for reflux. Acids backing up from the stomach into the throat can damage the vocal folds. Signs of acid reflux include frequent heartburn, a bad taste in your mouth in the morning, frequent bloating or burping, a lump in the back of your throat and frequent hoarseness. Consult a specialist for help.
- Don’t force it. When you’re hoarse from laryngitis, a cold or the flu, take it easy. Avoid speaking loudly or at length, and keep from straining your voice and even singing until you’re feeling better.
- Fight the urge to clear your throat. Avoid frequent throat clearing and harsh coughing when you have postnasal drip or a cold. Instead, try sipping water or nursing a cough drop.
- Give it a rest. If you’ve been talking too much or too loudly, let someone else do the talking for a while. Your voice will thank you.
- Try cool, clear water. Drinking plenty of water always helps to lubricate your vocal folds.
- Voice Amplifier. Using Voice Amplifier can helps to amplify your voice without shouting.