We often take our voice for granted. We forget that what produces our voice can be vulnerable to damage, just like every other part of the body. How many times after talking in a loud restaurant have you noticed that your throat is sore or after cheering at the footy that your voice sounds a bit rough and low the next day? I have seen children that yell in the playground and have developed vocal nodules, teachers that talk over lots of background noise in the classroom, auctioneers who run out of breath when they’re talking, and mums that just find they are constantly shouting to the children upstairs to come down for dinner.
Looking after your voice is not difficult it just might require a little bit of discipline. Here are my handy tips for looking after your voice:
1. Avoid smoking – smoking drys out your vocal folds.
2. Instead of shouting over background noise move closer to the person you are speaking to or move away from the noise.
3. Drink plenty of water- water moistens the vocal tract
4. Manage your stress- if you’re like me and carry your stress in your shoulders and neck, this is going to make it more difficult to “release” your voice rather than “pushing” it from a tight throat.
5. Try not to clear your throat too much- This is like clapping your hands together really hard and making them go red. If you throat clear a lot this may damage your vocal folds. Instead, try doing a hard swallow or taking a sip of water
6. Rest your voice- if you use your voice a lot throughout the day e.g. teacher, receptionist, auctioneer, sports coach, singer etc. then make sure you have times during the day where you can not talk and give your voice time to rest and recover