Guide to Good Vocal Health

Makaela Bragg
May 18, 2017
5 min read

Having a functioning, beautiful voice begins with having healthy vocal folds. This means vocal folds that are smooth, can close properly, and can vibrate freely. To ensure your vocal folds can do these things, we need to take care of their health in several basic ways:

1. HYDRATE

Hydrated vocal folds are essential for maintaining free and easy vibration and avoiding excess stress put on them. We need to avoid EXTERNAL and INTERNAL dehydration.

External dehydration refers to drying of the vocal folds from the air you breathe, which flows past the vocal folds.

Avoid breathing dry air by using a humidifier in your home.
Avoid breathing with your mouth open by breathing through your nose.
Avoid smoking and second hand smoke.
If you are already dried out, rehydrate the folds externally by inhaling steam through a hot shower, facial steamer, hot water vaporizer, etc.

Internal dehydration refers to drying from too much caffeine, alcohol, excess salt, drying drugs (allergy and cold medicine [antihistamines], diuretics) or sweating and not compensating enough by drinking water.

Carry a water bottle with you and drink slowly throughout the day. Allow at least 45 minutes for hydration to occur.
Women: Drink at least 8 cups (64 oz) of water a day. Try more if you are still feeling dehydrated.
Men: Drink at least 12 cups (96 oz) of water a day. Try more if you are still feeling dehydrated.
Replace coffee, tea, energy drinks, milk, and soda with water.

2. MANAGE YOUR MUCOUS

Thick mucous can be irritating and impair free vocal fold vibration.It can cause coughing and throat clearing that not only don’t relieve the problem but irritate your voice further.You can manage your mucous by avoiding irritants such as smoke, hydrating properly, avoiding dairy and very sugary foods, and dealing with acid reflux.Do NOT clear your throat.If your mucous is still problematic after these steps, you can ask your doctor about using a mucous thinner such as Mucinex.However, do NOT use Mucinex D (decongestant), because this has a drying rather than a thinning effect, which will cause further vocal issues.

3. STOP THROAT CLEARING

Throat clearing is extremely traumatic and causes excess wear and tear on your vocal folds.When we have dry saliva or mucous, we often feel there is some mucous on our vocal folds that we need to clear out when in fact there is no mucous, only the sensation of mucous. When we try to clear it out by coughing the sensation still remains, PLUS, saliva begins to collect in your throat and more mucous develops, which causes more discomfort and throat clearing.This is a vicious cycle we must avoid before it becomes habit!

Deal with mucous; identify and treat the cause of the mucous (reflux, smoke, dehydration, etc.)
When you feel you need to clear your throat, try swallowing hard or sipping water.
If necessary, clear your throat silently, like you are whispering “huh.”

3. DON’T OVERUSE YOUR VOICE

“Everything in moderation” – this sage advice is especially true when it comes to your voice.Compare your vocal cords to your legs.You would not expect to run a marathon and then later do an hour-long leg work-out in the gym.Similarly, you should not talk all day at work and then head out for an evening of yelling or talking over noise.Some signs that you are overusing or misusing your voice are:

Feeling of tension or fatigue in the voice
Hoarseness (rough quality to the voice)
Loss of higher notes you usually can sing
Random cracks and breaks in the voice
Difficulty getting your voice to ‘turn on’
Losing your voice

Here are some tips to prevent overusing the voice:

Rest your voice 10 minutes for every 2 hours of talking.
Warm up with straw phonation, trills, humming, etc. before speaking and during speaking breaks.
Talk at a moderate volume and avoid speaking in loud environments.
Avoid shouting and screaming.
Avoid lengthy phone conversations.

4. DON’T MISUSE YOUR VOICE

As we discussed in the Don’t Overuse Your Voice section, your voice can get worn out simply by using it too much, even if you are using it correctly.Add on incorrect technique and your voice can get worn out in a matter of seconds.Often people lose their voice after going to a sports game or singing at a loud show. You should never lose your voice in these situations.If you do, there is something wrong with your technique.Most proper technique is taught in private lessons.However, there are a few basic things you can watch out for that will make a world of difference for your vocal health.

Warm up before doing more advanced singing. This includes stretching and moving the body, the face, and the vocal folds. Great ways to warm up are lip and tongue trills, singing through a straw, water bubbles, humming, and singing gently on ah, making sure to begin in the middle of your range, not the extremes.
Our speaking voice and our singing voice are one and the same. Therefore, in order to protect your singing voice, you must take care of your speaking voice. Don’t get lazy when you speak. Make sure you use proper breath support. Avoid speaking in vocal fry and try to be expressive in your speech. Avoid hard glottal attacks at the beginning of vowels.
Try not to shout often, but when you do, use proper breath support and resonance rather than squeezing the neck and vocal folds together to create volume.
Do not whisper, ESPECIALLY when you have lost your voice! Whispering usually creates unhealthy tension that may stick around.

5. ACID REFLUX

Sometimes acid from our stomach can travel up into the esophagus and spill over onto the vocal folds.This is called laryngopharyngeal reflux. It is very irritating on the voice and can produce similar symptoms to a cold, such as mucous and swelling. Reflux can lead to many voice problems if not dealt with.Signs of reflux include:

Waking up with a sore throat
Wet burps
Feeling of lump in the throat
Anxiety
Nausea

There are many things that can cause reflux. You will have to experiment with and discuss with a doctor to figure out what is causing yours. Some common causes are:

Acidic or hard to digest foods (spicy food, high fat and meats, citrus, tomatoes, mint)
Low stomach acid leading to poor digestion (take apple cider vinegar or HCL supplements to help balance out acid)
Too much stomach acid (take Tums, baking soda, or proton pump inhibitors)
Overeating or lying down while full
Food sensitivities (gluten, dairy, sugar, etc.)

6. WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU HAVE A COLD

Sometimes colds cause our vocal folds to swell up.You should NOT sing if your vocal folds are swollen.If you do, you may 1) damage your vocal folds or 2) sing with extra tension to make up for the swelling, which you must UNlearn later.Here are some symptoms of vocal fold swelling:

Loss of higher notes you usually can sing
Unusual cracks and breaks in the voice
A delay before your voice ‘turns on’
You feel like singing is noticeably more difficult than usual

It is best to keep low demands on your voice during sickness even if you aren’t experiencing signs of swelling.Additionally, if you lost your voice, DO NOT WHISPER! This is because any change in the sound of our voice or tiredness in our body can cause us to change our technique, create tension in the wrong places, and build bad habits that are hard to break.Habits can be formed very quickly.If you must sing, make sure to do the following: