Have you been a singer in the past, and had recently lost your voice? WE CAN HELP!!

I have more and more inquiries from people who used to sing for some time in the past; and suddenly, (or at least so they thought), lost their singing range and some of them even lost their singing voice altogether. Needless to say, they had their speaking voice compromised as well.

Now they are older and in their 40s, 50s (and counting), they still cannot get a grip on the notion that their love and joy of singing (and proper, coherent speaking) might never be present again...?

Nevertheless, quite a few years later after the occurrence, they are still upset and even depressed about it. Of course, they had been through numerous visits to ENT doctors, speech therapists, pathologists and numerous vocal coaches. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, it did not add up to any tangible, needless to say, expected results.

With that said, since they had lost their love and joy to be able to speak or especially to sing effortlessly and painlessly, their lives have never been the same. Their passion and desire for expressing themselves, (telling their stories, speaking clearly and expressing their emotions through singing), has been "deeply buried" (so to speak).

1.  What would it take to recover one’s speaking or especially singing voice? Is it even possible?
2.  If it was possible, how would it impact the long-term voice sufferer’s life?

Fortunately I can shed the light on all of the above:

To answer the first question; luckily, in the majority of cases, it is absolutely possible. How does it happen that the singing voice, “all of a sudden, disappears”, (so to speak), you may ask?

Some people are born with natural singing talent; and once they discover it, they obviously begin to use it - and, basically, rightfully so. However, while enjoying their newly-found voice, they begin using it excessively. Thus, not being aware of the proper voice application and thus proper vocal technique, they end up overusing it and sometimes abusing it even to the “point of no return”.

For some reason, neither they nor their "mentors" realize that the singers’ vocal cords are not made from steel. In fact, they are very fragile and, thus have to be treated with special care. Like any instrument, the voice and the entire body, requires a frequent tune-up and proper maintenance.

Usually, the young and talented artists who get discovered via their talents and looks have no idea how to power their voice without any pain or strain on their vocal anatomy. So they pull and push their voices full force. And one day, sooner or later, the voice “pops” so to speak. That is how one of my singing voice repair clients had described it.

The musicians often use the expression, “No gig lasts forever”.

Indeed! Nobody should take their voice, (or other parts of their anatomy for that matter), for granted. If you are entering any high-tasking field, (singing performance included), please conduct the proper research to the best of your knowledge and then act accordingly. So please try to learn how NOT to "kill" your voice, but rather the opposite; how to preserve and nurture your fragile instrument – Your Voice!

With that said, keep in mind that recovering and restoring your voice to its original state would take a great effort on the part of the singer and nonetheless, a very experienced voice specialist.

To answer the second question, voice recovery and restoration is a huge deal and when it is complete, some people begin to re-evaluate the purpose of their lives (past and present).  It is quite difficult to turn the internal clock back and now try to leave their present lives in order to come back to something that once was very precious in the past.

As we all know, there is no change without change, even if it is a positive one.

However, in any case, the benefits of a newly-found voice are countless:

 - The confidence

 - the self-esteem and self-worth

 - the dignity and integrity

 - the pride of accomplishment...

 - recover the joy and the passion which was present in the past - before their voice/vocal injury...

So my reader... we need your opinion...

Is there "a price tag" that you could put on a healthy and vibrant voice...?