A Voice Apart

Acid Reflux affecting Vocal Cords? Can it also provoke a Muscle Tension Dysphonia Diagnosis? Go Figure!!! Lately, more and more voice issue sufferers are coming to me with the most - seem to be common - diagnosis such as acid reflux affecting the vocal cords, and also  muscle tension dysphonia   pr ovoked by acid reflux. Why those two specific voice disorders described above are very common, you may ask? Are there any other  vocal problems  that people also experience?   Of course, there are! The rest of them are much more obvious growths on the vocal cords or even throat - (For example,  nodes, nodules, polyps , cysts, lesions, etc). But what appears to be interesting is that if the person (let’s say with a hoarse/raspy voice) is not diagnosed with any growth on their vocal cords, he/she is immediately labelled with one or the other diagnosis - i.e, either g...

This is an informative & educational story about Mary Ellen Stoll : Former Speech and Singing Voice Repair Client from Brockville, Ontario –  Now an active member of the Brockville Barbershop Chorus (Thousand Islanders Chorus) . "Hi Diana, I just wanted to let you know I survived about 10 different Xmas singing events with the chorus WITH NO IMPACT ON MY VOICE; and for some of those events, we were singing outside in all types of weather - (Christmas parades and Xmas tree lighting etc.)"   Mary Ellen came to us in the year 2017 soon after she retired from being a manager within the Government of Ontario. Interestingly enough, her husband had also retired from service in the Government of Ontario on the same day and in the same year. Even more interestingly, both of them were born on the same day… and the same year…!! A few days ago, they both turned 66 years old. Congratulations to both of you, Mary Ellen and Steve! Below is Mary Ellen’s story: Over 40 years...

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 gre...

Vocal Strain means that the voice was misused or abused in more ways then one. Sometimes, just regular people end up abusing their voices without being aware of doing so. Some of them are speaking a lot and speaking very forcefully; almost screaming instead of speaking. They do get tired by the end of the day, but in the morning, they start all over again. Also, if their work requires them to speak on the phone all day, or to teach classes/courses, that’s where voice/vocal strain may occur; (and sometimes, to the point when they may lose their voice completely). Sometimes, the vocal strain could produce growths (like nodules or polyps) on the vocal cords. That’s where the “alarm should go off”, so to speak. Now we are talking about the growth on the vocal cords which, by itself, is a very serious matter. Either surgically, or preferably non-surgically, any growth has to be eliminated. We know of cases where such growth(s) had been left untreated for some...

Yes, of course, you can convince yourself to postpone it until next year, as you now will be busy with the holidays, holiday shopping, your children and whatnot. But should you really wait and put it on the back burner? Some things in our lives cannot wait for better days or better weather. For example,  Muscle Tension Dysphonia  (MTD)   could easily turn into Spasmodic Dysphonia , (which is definitely not going to be fun), and any growth on the vocal cords such as polyps , nodules , lesions , cysts (and what have you), could turn into  cancer of the throat , especially if all of it is emotionally induced. Our non-surgical voice repair Vocal Science™Method  - and, nonetheless, consisting of its very unique voice/vocal technique, is truly accelerated and straight to the point whereas the healing of the vocal problems and voice disorders are being solved with the speed of light (hours and days, not months or years).  I would ...

Attention all Speakers and Singers! If you have noticed that your speaking or singing voice is not performing as per usual and rather sounds lower and somewhat hoarse, PLEASE STOP !!! If you continue speaking in your usual manor and disregard the fact that your voice is feeling scratchy and your throat is feeling itchy, you might lose your voice completely and for some time ahead. Singers: please do not continue singing if you have noticed that it is much harder now to reach your high notes, which normally would not be a problem and if you have to push and pull your voice out of your inflamed, sore throat . At that time, you may also notice that your voice has deepened and has begun to sound scratchy and hoarse. If you don’t stop in time and look into your voice and vocal anatomy problem, that could be very much the end of your singing career. Coaching and repairing voices for over 40 years , I had a lot of cases where the performer did not stop on time...

Recently, we began hearing more and more about individuals' various voice issues and vocal problems... Some people have been suffering for years with the loss of their regular voice, speaking and/or singing .  The majority of those people, in the past, had already visited all kinds of doctors and ENT specialists and thus, had gotten diagnosed with all kinds of health problems related or, most of the time, not related to their vocal performance . Moreover, the loss of their original speaking and/or singing voice  often had been associated with all kinds of factors pertaining to the person’s internal health...?   However, some of the internal health problems, in fact, may be related to the change in the quality of one's voice.    For example: If the person maintains  some unhealthy diet i.e. consumes a lot of dairy or spicy products for that matter, that person most likely will possess a lot of mucus everywhere in the body, nevertheless, vocal ...

Should you continue singing the same way you have always been singing?  Should you ignore the unusual symptoms like hoarseness and dryness of the voice, loss of range, change of tone, etc.? These are your answers; You are a singer and have been for a long time. Your voice has never let you down for some time now, but, as musicians like to say, there is no gig lasts forever! Now you are not just getting mature, but you are also getting older and have had a lot of shows under your belt. Suddenly, you started noticing that you cannot reach the same high notes which you never had a problem with in the past, your tone of the voice is not the same and at times, you are even experiencing pitch problems, which you never had a problem with in the past. After the show, your voice and nevertheless, yourself, feeling exhausted and your voice sounds raspy and hoarse.  Those are very unfamiliar symptoms to you and now you are puzzled, concerned and even in panic. Your livelih...

I work with people from a wide variety of professions and walks of life, but I do find myself working with specific groups of people more often than others: Lawyers, Teachers, Admin Assistants, Salespeople, Public Speakers, Professional Voiceover Artists, Radio & TV Personalities and Singers. Due to their chosen professions, they often ruin their voices because they have no knowledge of any sort with respect of how to use their voices properly or how to preserve their voices for a prolonged period of time. Majority of times, these people tend to speak without any knowledge of how to lift their voices off of their vocal boxes and vocal cords in particular, and rather, instead, put their voices in use employing a different set of muscles (facial muscles); thus providing a very much needed rest for their vocal anatomy overall. On the contrary, they are pulling and pushing their vocal chords, squeezing and twisting their larynx and, moreover, engaging the muscles in their ne...