A Voice Apart

We are proud of our latest success and of our 36 years (and counting) of success overall! WHAT WE USUALLY DO: Holistic diagnostics and Non-Surgical voice repair coupled with Natural herbal treatments. We specialize and advocate : Anatomy of speaking/singing Psychology of the total human voice performance We can help you with any of your voice/vocal problems, advocating our revolutionary approach to voice mechanics and, nonetheless, the person as a whole! We own a very unique vocal technique which aids to speakers and singers. We are not offering useless exercises; our speech and singing exercises are directly applicable to the person's needs. We offer our students/clients to learn a completely new application of speaking and/or singing voice. The above would help to release the vocal cords and the vocal anatomy as a whole from the harmful pressure of the sound. That is what we call a vocal rest! The conventional voice coaches, as well as ENT sp

From our side, a Holistic Approach to Rectifying all of the above and more! Now, with over 36 years of business, we thought that we had seen it all. As it appears to be, the above is actually not the case. In the previous years, we had never seen people who have no control whatsoever of their physical bodies; nor we had seen people who absolutely do not know English phonetics. We do see a majority of clients who are entering our establishment and who developed very bad habits over the years; especially while trying to conduct their physical body with obvious inability to “walk and chew the gum at the same time” in a manner of speaking. The fact is that the Vocal Science™ method and its very unique vocal technique requires the person to use certain body movements while walking and talking (or singing) at the same time.   Also, a lot of our clients, especially those with speaking voice problems, possess the wrong formation of the words to begin with. While pronouncing certain

- My close observations and beliefs. - For at least a decade, about 90 percent of people have been coming through our doors to conquer not only a voice repair but, as experience shows, first and foremost, to acquire a new and improved lifestyle… Our Toronto prominent newspaper, The Toronto Star , once said - “ It is not for the faint of heart ”.  And I would add that it is also not for people who will be expecting change without change, so to speak. If those who are seeking help are not willing to open up and tell us their true story, then it would be very difficult to offer them the lifestyle modification -   and thus the successful results of their voice problems and issues. I’ve said it numerous times that the human voice is an expression of the state of one’s being and the identification of who that person really is…  The voice on its own is a “ tool” for communication and, needless to say, that if that very “tool” is broken, the communication also s

Overview of my recent trip to London, UK. Wenke L.G. – a sufferer of the vocal cord papillomavirus. Wenke L.G. from Birmingham, Solihull UK , met me in my hotel for a two and a half-hour introductory/exploratory session. Below is her feedback after the session was rendered and she and I proceeded to Camden Lock Market for an Afternoon Tea treat: “My voice feels a bit ‘Tired’ but a few people have said it sounds better, so I’m assuming the tired feeling just comes from, obviously, at this stage, having to work the mouth muscles harder to ‘smile and bite’; but it produces a clearer voice. So all good.” Wenke (Left) - Diana (Right) Stay tuned, as Wenke told us that she wants to send us more in-depth feedback via the next e-mail. We will bring it to your attention when it reaches us. ____________ Charlotte W – a sufferer of voice loss due to administered (unrelated) surgery Performance. Charlotte W. from South London UK had undergone serio

Reader’s discretion is advised. Also, due to the personal and intimate nature of the story, some names had been withheld.      A few years ago, I got a call from Judy’s husband who told me that his wife, named Judy, has been suffering from Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. He also told me that they did not have medical insurance, as they were both accountants and both worked together from out of their house. Apparently, as being self-employed, they had been quoted an astronomical amount of money to pay monthly for their medical insurance. Interestingly enough and according to Judy’s husband John, they were ready and willing to pay from out of their own pocket (since they were not able to afford the medical insurance) to see an ENT specialist. Needless to say, they were addressed there by their physician. But when they arrived for a visit with such a specialist, they were refused to be seen - since they did not own medical insurance. So they started seeking alternative help and had stu

Is Spasmodic Dysphonia always the cause of a spasming and/ or generally-malfunctioning voice, or could it be just multiple - and very nasty - symptoms induced by the injury(s) occurred within the vocal anatomy? Over many years, I have been tending to numerous of people with the diagnosis of Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) . I would like (down the road) to present to you (my reader) several cases with different causes, treatments and outcomes after all of the above: About the latest case of Tanya G, you already know in general that Tanya came to us to Toronto, Canada all the way from New Zealand in hopes of the complete recovery of her voice from her Abductor SD. Let’s examine what the very specific instruction and treatment process actually entailed and whether or not it was possible to achieve a complete cure of a generally-incurable voice disorder within only 50 hours of instruction and treatment. In a nutshell, below is Tanya’s story: Tanya told me that before such occur

Upon completion of 50 hours of instruction and treatment, we would like to bring to your attention a testimonial, provided to us by Tanya G - Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia voice disorder sufferer from New Zealand. This testimonial contains a dialogue between Diana Yampolsky and Tanya. - Please see below - Tanya: My name is Tanya G and I had been diagnosed with the Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia voice disorder.   I came all the way from New Zealand, which took 26 hours to fly to Toronto. As of today, I had done 50 hours of instruction for my voice recovery and the process of it has been very difficult, to say the least. But I have gotten the “tools” to go home with to work hard and bring my voice to where I want it to be. Diana: Was it worth the flight?   Tanya: Yes, it definitely was. Diana: - However, your expectations were for a full recovery within those 50 hours; as you understand now yourself, it was not possible to achieve the full voice recovery in

Please read below the synopsis of our present voice repair client and SD sufferer, Tanya G. We have just received a client suffering from the Spasmodic Dysphonia voice disorder . She came to us (just 4 days ago) from another side of the planet - New Zealand! We’ve learned that it took her over 22 hours to fly to us - to Toronto, Canada. To date, Tanya, under my thorough guidance, completed 20 hours of a very intense voice instruction coupled with a natural herbal treatment. In my estimate, our client’s Spasmodic Dysphonia disorder originally was determined to be between stage 1 and even possibly 2. In my previous blog about the same voice matter, I specified that in “my books”, this very nasty voice disorder possesses 4 stages, whereas the stage 3 and 4 could be somewhat treatable, but usually never curable (at least to my knowledge and experience). Tanya and I are working very hard, executing very detailed instructions (bringing it almost to forensic science)… The pr

Recently, we received a very talented (musically and otherwise) student who has been offered a major record deal in the United States. Three years ago, this singer/songwriter/producer felt that he could no longer reach the high notes, which he could easily reach before. He experienced vocal fatigue and thus could sustain any sound only for a short period of time. He acquired fear and emotional distress, knowing that his singing voice is not working in full capacity as before. He decided to withhold embarking onto the record deal; And rightfully so, as he felt that he could've lost his voice altogether if he continued singing (and speaking for that matter) in the same fashion. Within our introductory/exploratory session, we explained to him that if he does not change the application of his speaking and singing voice, he may actually lose his voice to the point of no return. What could be a bigger fear and frustration for a talented up-and-coming singer then to lose the

The Royans Institute for Non-Surgical Voice Repair, a division of TRS School for the Total Voice Performance and The Royans Professional Vocal School - for nearly 4 decades - has been receiving numerous clients with various voice disorders. Let us name the most common disorders that people have been suffering from and thus approaching our establishment: Polyps on the vocal cord(s) Nodules on the vocal cord(s)  Cysts on the vocal cord(s)  Lesions on the vocal cord(s) and throat area.  Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) Sulcus Vocalis  VCD (Vocal Cord Dysfunction) However, the above voice/vocal disorders are just to name a few… In our experience, practically all of the patients who have been suffering from the above-mentioned disorders have been prior going anywhere and everywhere to get help, even much before reaching our enterprise. Some of them had undergone conventional treatments like Botox; others took numerous speech therapy sessions doing

Muscle tension dysphonia is a term used to define significant change in the sound of one’s voice - usually due to the muscle strain in the neck. Hoarseness or discomfort via excessive muscle tension in and around the voice box, can be indicating signs of the beginning stages of this nasty voice disorder - MTD. Needless to say, muscle tension dysphonia disorder inhibits the sufferer from using their natural voice. MTD can easily develop, for example; due to some infectious diseases like laryngitis and can also remain to be even after the swelling of the vocal cords subsided. It can also be caused by stress, therefore potentially causing co-occurring voice problems. However, this kind of dysphonia may occur on its own, identified as primary MTD - or it may occur as a result of other underlying disorders, known as secondary MTD. What are the symptoms of this kind of dysphonia? Muscle tension dysphonia generally causes the voice to sound rough, hoarse, raspy, weak, breathy