Vocal Paresis - The Causes and Consequences.

Get this:
From Strep Throat - To Laryngitis - To Vocal Cord Paralysis...

Isn’t that peculiar?

More and more, in my practice (in over four decades), I have been hearing about the devastating vocal disorder - Vocal Paresis, also known as Vocal Paralysis.

The interesting thing is that a lot of other vocal disorders are usually caused by speaking and/or singing in the wrong (and often aggressive) way.

- Vocal Paresis, as well as, (for example) Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD), quite often have additional reasons for their occurrence.

Interestingly enough, I hear a lot about some kind of a virus (or even a simple cold) that had produced vocal paresis affecting one or even both vocal cords.

When a person is under a lot of stress, their immune system subsides which means that they become more susceptible to all kinds of infections, colds, and needless to say viruses.

Some time ago, a client from Atlanta, Georgia, USA came with one paralyzed vocal cord, which occurred after he experienced a really severe strep throat condition.

This person happened to be a pastor who had been travelling internationally - giving speeches, leading worship conferences and also, quite often, using his singing voice to the max.

 

So in this instance, the cause for the Vocal Paresis was not only the Strep Throat on its own, but also the wear and tear on my former client's vocal anatomy.

Needless to say, he definitely did not use his voice properly and thus misused and abused his vocal box off-limits.

So the "marriage" of the two conditions resulted in Vocal Paralysis.

In his case, his throat became the targeted organ that he had been using the most, nonetheless, due to his professional conduct.

We also had a former client who was a professional Rock singer; and in the middle of his recording, his voice (as he described himself) "poped".

However, he continued pushing it to the max until he could not push it any longer. He underwent 3 operations; and at the last operation, he was offered a synthetic device to be implanted into his right vocal cord.

That device, along with the previous voice abuse, paralyzed his vocal cord for good.


When he came to see me, I was able to fix his speech, but I was not able to recover his singing voice.

However, nevertheless, with great difficulty, I was still able to produce noticeable improvement not only in speech, but also in some part in singing. 

When the vocal cord is paralyzed and is treated with my method, I restructure the voice in a different set of muscles and do everything in my power to go around the actual injury.

However, on the other hand, the vocal cord itself needs some sort of "physiotherapy" (in a manner of speaking).

In a nutshell and in the final analysis, I need to produce flexibility and movement on that vocal cord, which by itself is very challenging...

Thankfully, in the majority of cases, it is actually possible.

The fact is, the initial sound of the voice has to go off of both vocal cords, therefore, the movement of both vocal cords is required.

However, depending on the severity of paralysis, I can always make the healthy vocal cord compensate for the injured one, and thus make the sound primarily go off of the healthy one.
However, if we are talking bout the singing voice, the healthy sound will come out, but it will sound MONO, and not as it is supposed to be STEREO... 

The next step is to direct the sound to the set of one's facial muscles, which will amplify the sound quadruple times over... provided that the abdominal muscles are employed to the max (especially in the case of Vocal Paresis) to help the sound to become airborne in order to reach its aimed destination (upper facial muscles).

- The role of the abdominal muscles is such that they have to produce a proper "lift of the sound" (the height) to ensure its needed support, as well as the "body of the sound", which will also ensure its fullest capacity (the width).

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There are other bizarre accidents that people described to me which also caused vocal paralysis and had greatly affected their speech (one of them included a "chainsaw gone wild" during a construction accident!).

Somebody else, we had previously treated, had fallen on a bicycle's handlebar while being hit by a car from the rear.

The above (almost unbelievable accidents we have dealt with) are just to name a few.



So to conclude:

There are many circumstances that could produce this nasty condition; the consequences of which, unfortunately, could cause a devastating vocal disability.

However, on a positive note, it can definitely be improved, and in some cases, quite significantly!

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 The truth of the matter and satisfactory results are our biggest ambition!!

Our Goal:
To bring any voice matter to a very successful conclusion and, mainly without any delays!
We pay attention to the minutest details in order to reach the most desirable results and, nevertheless, to bring the matter to at least a reasonable conclusion, and in the shortest time possible!