5 tips for a healthy voice
My favorite voice course in Undead Voice Lab is the one where we break bad habits and build a healthy voice foundation.
Here’s the top tips from the Foundations course on how to maintain a healthy voice:
Hydration: Consistent hydration maintains fluidity, flexibility, and movement of the vocal folds. It’s imperative to maintain vocal fold hydration throughout your voice transition. Hydration also maintains the mucousal lining of the vocal tract. Dehydration can cause vocal pathologies such as laryngitis and excessive throat-clearing.
Vocal Warm-Up: Before starting the day or beginning voice practice, it’s important to warm up the voice. This stretches the vocal folds by plumping them up wtih oxygenated blood, breaks up dried or gunky mucous, and helps clear the throat. Warming up the voice also relaxes the pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles supporting healthy, safe voice use.
Steaming: Unlike hydrating with water, steaming comes into direct contact with the vocal folds. Inhaling steam can be beneficial when sick, hoarse, experiencing laryngitis (loss of voice), or as part of your vocal warm-up routine. Be mindful of not oversteaming with prolonged exposure. Aim for breathing steam through your nose for three to five minutes.
Vocal Breaks: When doing any and all vocal work, it’s important to listen to your body. When you feel vocally fatigued, take a break and come back to your practice when rested. If unable to take a break, a vocal warm-up can help reset a fatigued voice for continued use.
Avoid Smoke Inhalation: High-temperature smoke inhalation causes injury to the upper and lower airways by causing edema (swelling). The soft tissue of the vocal folds is effected by the swelling of the larynx. Smoke inhalation also inacts changes in the elasticity of the vocal folds, restricting the pitch range and often causing a hoarse quality to the tone.
No Throat Clearing: Throat clearing is extremely traumatic to the vocal folds. Persistent throat clearing can cause excessive wear and tear. The irritation and swelling from throat clearing can cause saliva to sit in the throat, giving the sensation of a foreign body needing cleared. Use an alternative to throat clearing. Learn more about alternatives here: