A Voice Apart

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

Recently, we had an inquiry from a singer situated in Europe who had been diagnosed with Spasmodic Dysphonia. …………………………………………………………………………… “I was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, and the doctor wanted to give me Botox injections, but I refused because the risk of not being able to sing well afterwards (I am a singer) was too great! So my question is, Can you help me get my voice or a better voice back? Is it possible to get instructions via Skype. I live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands!” …………………………………………………………………………… Below is my answer. Hi There, I have to note that it is a little unusual to be diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, when you are a singer. Usually, it happens to people who are not singers, but just regular (or professional) speaking voice users. But, nevertheless, it is a very serious problem and in conventional sense, cannot be treated, let alone cured. And yes, the only treatment they could offer is the Botox, which in majority of cases, will not work or

Attending to clients who were in desperate need of voice repair for so many years, I have never seen so many people who not only had their voices compromised, but also their whole lives (their mental and emotional state), had appeared quite challenged. Some of them, of course, were more stable and more present then others. Those whose mental and emotional state was, to say the least, quite shaky, had a much harder time achieving the holistic transformation of their emotions; and, nonetheless, also achieving their altered way of thinking.  Nevertheless, they even had a hard time accepting their newly sounding v oice, as some of them had completely forgotten how their real voice actually sounded before they discovered that they had acquired a voice/ Vocal Disorder .  So...  somebody just lost their voice…?  So what, you may ask? “Let’s find a way to bring it back and make everybody happy”, you would think!   Unfortunately, it’s not that easy at all! Many times before