I help motivated speakers and singers who experience vocal tension, strain or pain when speaking find more vocal ease and power so that they can reclaim their voice and trust it again.
Do you have a hoarse voice? Does your voice get tired? Do you strain your voice and don't know what to do about it?
Over the past 20 years, I’ve been a speech-language pathologist, vocal health educator and voice optimizer, working with a very diverse group of people, including speakers, presenters, teachers, preachers, fitness instructors, musicians and singers of all ages. My clients find more confidence in their voice through releasing tight vocal structures, working with their bodies, and deepening their knowledge of how voice really works.
Let's explore together what's possible for your voice.
Can you make a full recovery? I was recently diagnosed and its impacted every aspect of my life. Seeing people in tje comments saying they have dealt with this for years scares the life out of me.
I personally believe that the Corona Virus 🦠 caused the excessive dryness that most people are experiencing. We had no problems until after the pandemic. My throat feels like the pores have closed in the lining of my throat. I drink a gallon of water every day. My skin is beautiful but my throat feels like dry writing paper. I am tempted to drink olive oil. That is what my spirit is leading me to do.
Just been diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia with nodules on my vocal cords. I tend to have lots of mucus pooling in my pharynx, apparently ( checked on camera down my throat) As a teacher, talking over 6 hours a day, it’s not easy to rest my voice. Hopefully, i will soon have help but your channel is helping. Many thanks!
Hi and welcome! I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with voice issues. But I am glad that you've already found some help. Most of my videos on this channel are for people with muscle tension-related voice issues so hopefully you can find some answers there too. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hello! Can you pls make a video about right vocal cord paralysis. I'm a singer and I was just diagnosed yesterday, so I'm still very emotional about it. :(
I am so very sorry to hear that you are dealing with voice issues and that you just heard your diagnosis. I can only imagine how that feels! You being emotional about it is absolutely normal. I hope you have someone to talk to about this, someone who can support you through this process. There are solutions for vocal cord paralysis (especially when just diagnosed). It may feel overwhelming right now and I absolutely understand it. I wish you all the best in your recovery!
I see where you get confused. When you hum, the air goes through the nose. When you have a straw in your mouth, you make a similar sound to humming but the air goes through the mouth and the straw. If not, you would not be seeing bubbles in the water (if you are using a straw with water), or you would not feel the air at the end of the straw (if you are using a straw without water). The goal of this exercise is to move air through the straw while making a sound. I don't like to use the word "push" because it may cause too much effort, which we don't want.
I don't know if I have mtd but some of the symptoms sound like what I'm experiencing Talking/singing isn't the same as it used to be, though I do have allergic rhinitis so that might be contributing to it but I'm not sure but sometimes it feels like there's a hole in the side of my throat after singing or talking, like right now .
I cannot tell you if you have MTD or not. The only way to find out is to speak to a laryngologist who would be able to assess your voice and make that diagnosis.
My voice is naturally loud and clear but sometimes it becomes weak and hard to speak even without singing or talking too much😢it gives me anxiety and depression
I am so very sorry to hear that your voice causes anxiety and depression. I suggest that you have your voice evaluated to give you peace of mind that there is nothing wrong with it. If you worry too much about your voice, it can add to voice tension and start a vicious cycle. Just know that you may be using too much effort to use your voice or you are engaging in behaviours that may be tiring your voice and you don't even know about it. Therefore, it is always good to have your voice checked or talk to someone to lessen your anxiety.
what if you have postnasal drip that makes you cough all the time? coughing isn't good for your vocal chords. I'm not finding a lot of solutions online.
You are absolutely right. Coughing is not good for vocal health. And postnasal drip can be challenging to deal with. I am not a doctor, so I cannot suggest medical solutions (there are some so I encourage you to talk to a doctor if you haven't done so). Keeping your nasal passages clean with nasal rinses or saline solutions may be helpful. Figuring out what causes postnasal drip is important (if it is allergens or foods, then avoiding those as much as possible). And also, learning how to clear your throat with a softer cough may also be helpful. I hope this helps.
I look forward to every new video, I am both a teacher and a singer. Will you share exercise content regarding the topics you mentioned :) (ımprove vocal power, expend vocal range, improve voice quality,vocalfold closure, ) especially ı wonder about vocal fold closure exercises, thank you so much for your help and sharing :)
Hello and welcome to the channel. I have many videos on these topics so just browse through the past videos. For vocal fold closure, I would suggest resonance exercises, straw exercises, vocal fry and learning about onsets. Also, body anchoring (support ) is important. I hope this helps.
Hey, I am experiencing difficulty with hard glottal attacks while speaking, where it feels as though my tongue forcefully hits my teeth and hard palate. This causes discomfort and occasional pain in my tongue and palate, making speaking uncomfortable. It feels as if all my mouth muscles, vocal cords, and tongue are applying more pressure than necessary. Could you please suggest some possible solutions for this problem ?
Hard glottal attacks refer more to the way how vocal folds come together. But I understand what you mean by using too much effort in your tongue. I suggest that you use your exercises but pay attention to the amount of effort you use. Do the exercise with maximum effort and then with minimum effort and compare the feeling. With practice, you can find the right amount of effort to use for vocal exercises. Then, you can slowly transfer them to your speaking. I also suggest that you do exercises with different tongue positions (e.g. tongue dorsum more down or up, or somewhere in the middle). I hope this is making sense to you. Maybe you want to consult with a speech therapist to help you find solutions.
I have it after hot coffee like cotton mouth sometimes it burns , 😩 I absolutely hate it I have chronic allergies and sinus issues and my voice is more rough each passing here ,sounds so ugly now 😞
Yes, I know that feeling. And all of the things you named can be adding to the feeling of dryness. Have you talked to your doctor about possible solutions?
I went to doctor. Muscle tension is horrible. But I know exactly why I got it because of stressful ugly disgusting people I dealt with. Stay away from toxic people.
@@healthyvoicetipsma'am can you please answer me. I would love the tip. first doctor I went to told me it's laryngitis I took antibiotics. Then I got infection. I took antibiotics again. Infection healed. But this time I went to a better doctor. More licensed. He checked my throat ENT all of them. He said he doesn't see any infection or anything visible. Told me it looks and sounds like I got MTD. I don't have a visible infection I don't have fever. I just have tense feeling in my throat and hoarseness when I get stressed or when i workout intensily Is this MTD?
Thank you for watching. Here is a free resource that may help you see all the approaches you can use to deal with muscle tension related voice issues: www.vocalfreedomsystem.com/blueprint
Katarina: my situation is totally different. Due to neck surgery, my left vocal cord was damaged and the left vocal cord lost function. When I speak, vocal cord cannot close together. I have done vocal cord injection twice. After injection, vocal cord closure was better, then voice is better. After 6 months, injection materials was absorbed. Then voice went back to hoarseness. Is there any way to improve voice through vocal cord training? Thanks.
Thank you for your question and for sharing your vocal story. I am sorry to hear that you are dealing with a serious voice issue. I am not an expert on vocal paralysis or paresis but from what I know, there is a period of time (about 12 months) where some function of the vocal fold can return spontaneously. However, after this period of time, the function is most likely not coming back spontaneously or with exercises. The exercises and vocal training can help optimize the function (or whatever is left) but will not fix the primary issue. There are more permanent surgery options to improve the position of the affected vocal fold. It would be best to discuss your options with a laryngologist. I am sorry I don't have a better answer for you. I wish you all the best.
Thank you so much for your videos! Ive lost my voice back in june and its slowly coming back but ive got a burning feeling in throat and still abit hardness
I am very sorry to hear that you are dealing with a voice issue but glad to hear that you are improving. Have you talked to a laryngologist and have you had your voice checked? The doctor may have some answers as to the burning sensation and slow recovery of your voice.
Katarina, I cannot thank you enough for your videos. Thanks to you and all the valuable information you give us I discovered how to look after my voice better, warm up and sing without any effort. ❤😊
Gargling is a good exercise to release tension from the voice. You don't even need to use salt water (unless you want to get rid of some of the bacteria from your mouth).
Have you ever dealt with a Quran reciter? Been having muscle pain in larynx for over 7 months. Exercises given my voice therapists haven’t really helped. This includes lionyrills to my is trills neck stretches tongue stretches straw phonation and so on. The pain varies day by day and often is related to my recitation. Do you do private treatment? Where do you reside? Maybe we can have an online consultation then I can fly over if you feel like you can help me because this has really impacted my life negatively
No, I have not dealt with a Quaran reciter. But I have dealt with vocal pain. Here is a resource that may be helpful to you: www.vocalfreedomsystem.com/pain I wonder if some of the pain that you are perceiving is so called "learned pain". Maybe during recitation, you are overusing your muscles and your brain perceives it as pain, instead of tension. Just wondering.
Thank you I tried you training this morning and I will continue to use this exercise for 2 weeks to see if it will help my voice. I am a trainer and no one can hear me when we are at live bands.
Thank you for watching. Which cause of vocal tension do you think you are dealing with? Let me know. If you want to join our program, click this link to learn more: www.vocalfreedomsystem.com/vocal-freedom-system-program
Psychological: My ex-husband used to silence me. I was diagnosed with vocal cord dysfunction. And physical: Whiplash from a car accident causes weird muscle spasms. If I get excited and raise my voice, my neck muscles spasm.
@@healthyvoicetipsi have been doing your other exercise the past few days where you massage the neck and adams apple. It has works so well. Thank you. I wish i can cure this issue completely though. Just trying to find out why it keeps happening.
