Take care of your voice!
How is teaching hurting my voice? What can I do to help my voice?
Teachers can be some of the worst culprits of “vocal abuse behaviors”. These are behaviors that negatively impact our voice quality and can have permanent, detrimental effects on our vocal cords. Do you find yourself losing your voice toward the end of the day or week? Does your throat get scratchy? Does your voice get hoarse, harsh, or raspy? Does your throat hurt?
These are all signs of vocal abuse. But, they can be prevented!
Be sure to:
Teachers can be some of the worst culprits of “vocal abuse behaviors”. These are behaviors that negatively impact our voice quality and can have permanent, detrimental effects on our vocal cords. Do you find yourself losing your voice toward the end of the day or week? Does your throat get scratchy? Does your voice get hoarse, harsh, or raspy? Does your throat hurt?
These are all signs of vocal abuse. But, they can be prevented!
Be sure to:
- Rest your voice when you feel it becoming fatigued. This does not have to mean silence, but do NOT whisper! Whispering takes more effort from your lungs and vocal cords in order to make sound, so it is detrimental to your voice in the long run!
- Make sure sufficient air is coming out of your mouth and lungs as you speak. Do you use that last little bit of air in your lungs? take a breath, then finish your thought.
- Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
- Avoid yelling or raising your voice. Speak at a normal, comfortable pitch for you. Do not speak at a higher pitch than is normal for you. Yelling and increasing pitch puts strain on your vocal cords.
- Vocal abuse behaviors can cause the development of calluses on your vocal cords (or vocal folds). The calluses are called “vocal nodules” and can get worse if not treated. You can reduce the size of or prevent the development of nodules by avoiding the behaviors described above.
More suggestions to take care of your voice
Here are some good vocal hygiene habits to consider doing every day to help prevent the loss of one of your most important teaching tools, your VOICE!
- Avoid yelling. To get the attention of your students in class try doing something else other than putting a strain on your voice. For instance, blow a whistle, turn the lights on and off, raise your hand as a visual cue for the class to quiet down, clap, use a portable sound amplification system, or use a bell. When at sporting events, please clap or raise your arms to show excitement. Avoid yelling and loud cheering.
- Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. It is very important to not let your vocal folds become dry or your body dehydrated. Eight glasses full of eight ounces of water a day is recommended to maintain adequate hydration. Drinking water all throughout the day will help to keep the lubricating mucus on your vocal cords thin and wet which helps them to give you the best voice. Keep a water bottle at your desk and drink from it often.
- Humidify your air if you work in a dry environment. A humidifier or vaporizer is encouraged for individual classrooms if you have a dry working environment. This is true for the home environment too. It is especially important to sleep in humidified air if you are experiencing a voice concern if it is the dry winter season. Note: Dr. Katherine Verdolini of the University of Pittsburgh Voice Center recommends the use of a hot water vaporizer versus a cool-mist device. The reason is that cool-mist devices vaporize everything in their reservoirs, including any chemicals or germs. On the other hand, hot water vaporizers create vapor by boiling water, and because water has a lower boiling point than most chemicals, only water is delivered into the air. It is important to check with your doctor before beginning any hydration program.
- Reduce throat clearing and coughing. If you have to do these actions, try to do them gently or try sniffing and swallowing instead. In addition, try having a drink, sucking a sweet or yawning to relax your throat. Coughing and throat clearing are traumatic to the vocal cords. In a strong cough, your vocal cords in your throat "Voice Box" (called the "Glottis") go together strongly in order to shut off air flow from the lungs. Each strong cough can irritate your vocal cords and increase swelling. During a throat clear you produce an increase in tension in your neck, chest and shoulders, than your vocal folds push tightly together right before air goes through them. The vocal cords are slammed together, then pushed apart, then slammed together again. If the slamming together of the cords happen in your throat many times a day, you will build up tension and produce bruised and swollen cords that will later become vocal nodules. This is a picture of the vocal cord region.
- Reduce or eliminate smoking. That includes being present in smoky environments for any more than five minutes. Smoke is a major irritant for the vocal cords and has been linked to chronic laryngitis, vocal cord polyps, and cancer of the larynx.
- Reduce or eliminate excessive and nonessential talking. Try to listen more during your lunch breaks instead of being the story teller. Avoid lengthy telephone conversations and social conversations all throughout your day. Try to send out emails, write letters, and use notes to communicate information to others.
- Be aware of medications that can dry out the mouth and throat. Common drying out drugs fall in the decongestant, antihistamine, and local anesthetics groups. Several of these are taken by people who are experiencing a cold. Take extra care to reduce talking when you have a cold, as your vocal cords are already experiencing increased dryness at that time.
- Build periods of vocal rest into your day. You must rest that voice! Remember that you can type, write things down on paper or in the computer and that you can gesture to get your wants and needs expressed during vocal rest times.
- Reduce tension in your body and identify stressors in your life. It is important to try to keep your neck and jaw as relaxed as possible throughout the day. The tension in your body can be reduced with relaxation techniques like: five deep breaths that are let out slowly, five minute neck massages, slow head turns and stretches, and cues to, “relax” given to yourself. Making a list of stressors in your life will help you to know when tension increases are possible. Using relaxation techniques during those times of increased tension build up will be important for reducing possible vocal injury. Know what you can do to relax after a long work day. Everyone deserves to take care of themselves! So, please take that bath, complete some yoga, or read your favorite book! The goal is to relax your body as much as you can and to take away tension from your body. This will improve your voice tremendously.
- Reduce caffeine and alcohol. Both have been found to be drying agents and can be a major contributor to dry, and irritated vocal cord quality. Please try to reduce alcoholic and caffeinated drinks to no more than two for each in a day.
- Determine if you are experiencing gastric reflux. There is a relationship between gastro esophageal reflux (heartburn) and certain voice disorders. The acid from the stomach may "burn" the vocal cords. Try to cut down on spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine. If you feel as if you may be experiencing acid reflux it is important to talk to your doctor. You may need medicine to stop or reduce the production of acid. This medicine is called a (PPI) or proton pump inhibitor. Reflux can be very damaging to your throat and this problem needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
- Avoid whispering. When we whisper, we do not use our body structures effectively. In normal speech, we use a variety of resonators: the vocal folds, the throat, the mouth, the nose and the diaphragm, (where we obtain the breath support needed for speech). When we whisper, we only utilize the vocal folds and that puts a large strain on the them. It is best to learn to talk softly using all of our resonators. There’s a difference between talking softly and whispering. Use all of your resonators equally when talking softly and avoid the vocal fold damaging act of whispering.
How teachers can help their students with language processing difficulties:
• Use visual support to supplement auditorally presented information
• Present new information in a multi-modality and context-rich environment to tap into the other senses
• Allow more “thinking time” to prevent unnecessary pressure during moments of difficulty
• Encourage your student to request repetition or help, rather than simply saying “I don’t know” during moments of difficulty
• Encourage your child to seek out a “study buddy” to check information during class assignments
• Make sure your child is ready to listen before you begin speaking
• Explain idioms or figurative language to your child. For example, don’t assume your child knows what you mean when you say “keep a lid on it” - they may actually be thinking they need to put a lid on something.
• Use a tape recorder to record class lectures (for future playback and repetition)
• Increase your child’s awareness of his or her strengths by providing frequent positive encouragement
• Present new information in a multi-modality and context-rich environment to tap into the other senses
• Allow more “thinking time” to prevent unnecessary pressure during moments of difficulty
• Encourage your student to request repetition or help, rather than simply saying “I don’t know” during moments of difficulty
• Encourage your child to seek out a “study buddy” to check information during class assignments
• Make sure your child is ready to listen before you begin speaking
• Explain idioms or figurative language to your child. For example, don’t assume your child knows what you mean when you say “keep a lid on it” - they may actually be thinking they need to put a lid on something.
• Use a tape recorder to record class lectures (for future playback and repetition)
• Increase your child’s awareness of his or her strengths by providing frequent positive encouragement