A Voice Apart

 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 . Now they are older and in their 40s (and counting), and they still cannot get a grip on the notion that their love and joy of singing might never be present again...? Quite a few years later after the occurrence, they had been still upset and even depressed about it.   Of course, they had been through numerous visits to doctors, speech therapists, pathologists and nevertheless many vocal coaches. However, in the majority of cases, it did not add up to any tangible, needless to say, expected results. With the above said, since they had lost their love and joy to be able to sing effortlessly and painlessly, their lives were never the same. Their passion and desire for expressing themselves, (telling their stories and expressing their emotions through singing), ha

With the Vocal Science™ method and its own very unique vocal technique, we have proven quite a few medical professionals wrong! - Case Study #1: Tim Bristol of Niagara Falls, New York - The above-named non-surgical voice repair client of ours was given a “sentence” of “the point of no return”. The ENT professionals were stating that many of our clients (formally theirs) would never recover their speaking and/or singing voices ever again… With the above in mind… let’s profile a throat cancer survivor named Tim Bristol. Some time ago, he came to us seeking a viable solution for his very serious voice problem, after surviving throat cancer. Tim has been a musician, singer/songwriter (at the time) for over 45 years of his life. From his words, his whole life had mainly revolved around music. Also, from his words, while performing on many stages, which he was playing from, he saw nothing but “blue light”. So, needless to say, the constant second-hand smoke was inhaled by Tim, night

Let's look at your vocal cords from a professional point of view:  Your vocal cords (within your voice box) are not just strings… They are a delicate form of fold tissues (muscles) with a very thin lining on the outside. And just like any other tissues within the body, if not taken care of properly, they evidently can get damaged. Normally, when people start to exhibit vocal cord problems, they may not even notice them and thus, do not find the need to address them until the problems (like strained vocal cords, bleeding vocal cords or other forms of vocal cord damage) become severe enough to warrant a visit to the doctor or a qualified voice specialist. Vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) happens when the vocal cords are unable to open properly. This is also referred to as paradoxical vocal fold movement. VCD is sometimes confused with asthma as some of the symptoms are very similar. With VCD, the vocal cords close instead of opening up, when you breathe in and out. This closure

Beyond the Reasonable doubt... What is this blog actually about? We just would like to bring to your attention that we successfully completed a speech and singing voice repair course with Alberto “Maui” Mauiztic from Cozumel, Mexico. Please check out his feedback after only 20 hours (protocol is 30) of our very unique instruction and natural herbal treatment. See below : “I cannot state enough how much Diana's teachings have helped me, I came to see her after more than 3 months of vocal pain, strain and absolute uncertainty of what my voice would be like in the near or even distant future... A singer who cannot speak for more than an hour without resenting it for the next few days... imagine that! Despite the fact that she sounded so reassuring and knowledgeable on the telephone it was a leap of faith to trust some unknown lady 3,000 km away from me and get on a plane to see her. If you've been suffering like me (and probably even more) you have been promised so much

Spasmodic Dysphonia is a voice disorder often caused by some neurological conditions, which could greatly affect your speech. This disorder is not immune to any age and can affect anyone and, unfortunately, can surface with anyone at any given time. With this voice-related problem, movement of the vocal cords is forced and strained resulting in a jerky, hoarse, tight or groaning voice. If you are affected by Spasmodic Dysphonia Disorder, the muscles inside your vocal box (mainly the larynx and vocal cords) may receive some abnormal nerve signals that most of the time cause the vocal folds to spasm uncontrollably.  Symptoms of Spasmodic Dysphonia At first, the symptoms may be mild and they may occur only occasionally. But with time, they may worsen and the spasms become more frequent. The main symptom of spasmodic dysphonia is a forced movement of the muscles inside the vocal box. This usually causes a very strained voice. The words you speak may be dragged out or broken while

- Yes... She was forced to cancel the rest of her tour! - You may wonder why this had occurred one more time again…? That happened because if nothing gets changed with respect of how the artist is using his/her voice, it will inevitably reoccur again and again… unfortunately. The very first time it happened to Adele was in the year 2012 . At that time, losing her voice, she had to cancel her concerts and tour dates due to a bleeding polyp on her vocal cord.  She was transported to Boston, US, to undergo a vocal surgery which was successfully completed by one of the renowned ENT specialists. Adele was not allowed to speak for 5 months after the procedure. After that, her voice healed and returned “back to normal”, and thus she was scheduled to perform at the upcoming Grammy awards.  Right before that, she was interviewed by Anderson Cooper and during that interview, she was asked if she thought whether or not that could happen to her ever again? Without any he

Has Your Voice Been Compromised Due To The Above? You had a stroke… and luckily, you survived! In a lot of cases, after the stroke occurs, either the right side or the left side of the body ends up to be paralyzed.  Also, in a lot of cases, the speech centre is also greatly effected, and thus the survived-patient’s speech is very much so compromised. In some cases, it is still recoverable, but in others, unfortunately, the speech remains to be permanently impaired.  For those cases where I could use an alternative approach to voice mechanics , the recovery is still going to be a slow and tedious process, which will require a lot of patience from the person in question and myself.  Usually, a stroke survivor has a very slow and quite slurred speech, not to mention usually pretty faint. Obviously, there is not much enunciation, pronunciation or articulation is precent in those cases. So in order to enhance the above, a lot of special speech exercises have to be admini

Once, I had a request from a serious voice problem sufferer who was residing in the UK.  He was a throat cancer survivor; and with all of the chemotherapy and radiation therapy, he ended up having both vocal cords damaged. One of his vocal cords was paralyzed and the other one was simply non-functional. He approached me with all kinds of questions and when his question came around the price of my nonsurgical voice repair services and treatment sessions , he exclaimed: “Oh my God, it is too much!” When I asked him what he would do with the same amount of money if he would not end up paying for my services? He said: “I would go on vacation…” Then I asked him if he would enjoy that vacation, being afraid to open his mouth and constantly be conscious on how he would be received and perceived by other people? On that note, I’ve heard the tears in his voice. He had obviously gotten my drift… so to speak. After this emotional moment, our deal had been finalized; and shortly after,

More and more people are inquiring about the treatment for their strained vocal cords without the need for surgery or any other invasive procedures, for that matter. When they call to inquire about the above, I can actually hear that their voice is definitely damaged, partially lost, and therefore, even possibly due to something more serious... However, somebody called me in the not-so-distant past. This person was speaking with me in a quiet and whispered voice. They revealed to me that the ENT Doctor had diagnosed them with strained vocal cords. Firstly, I had to ask that person if they were male or female, as for the lack of a normal voice, it was undetectable. The sufferer disclosed to me that she was a female of 64 years of age. While I was talking to her, I right away suspected that her voice problem was by far more serious than just strained vocal cords.  I told her (since she practically had no sound) that I would have no prediction on whether or not I could actually recove

For at least the last 25 years, we have been specializing in extreme voice disorders such as: Muscle Tension Dysphonia Spasmodic Dysphonia Polyps & Nodules on the vocal cords Cysts & Lesions on the vocal cords and the throat Acid Reflux effecting the vocal box   Laryngitis Sulcus Vocalis (enlarged gap between the vocal folds) Strained Vocal Cords Vocal Cord Paresis Partially Lost Voice - And that’s just to name a few. Both regular speaking people and or singers could possess the above-described vocal injuries. As strange as it sounds, the regular speaking people are taking their injuries much harder then the actual singers. In fact, in a lot of cases, singers may still have their speaking voices somewhat intact; and therefore, it is not that detrimental for them just to lose their singing voice capacity then for speakers to completely lose their tool for communication. Of course, no matter how you slice it, speakers and singers are both greatly

Regain your voice and your confidence back!   Your voice… desired and deserved!   More and more professional artists end up with the vocal injuries . Nearly every week, we hear that various concerts and tours have been canceled and the lead singers (either a soloist or band lead singer) just about to undergo a vocal cord surgery . How sad is that? Sad indeed!   Why does it happen and why it happens to so many artists? Is it because they are overworked and over-stressed? I think that definitely the above are the factors.  However, if their technical merit of their singing had been intact, less tragedies and cancellations of their performances would take place. So, human being puzzle (in a manner of speaking), like any puzzle, has many components and pieces, which have to fall into the right places. Those singers’ lifestyles, naturally, are very active and filled with a lot of appearances, interviews and performances. Due to the above, thei