A Voice Apart

A HOLISTIC Approach To A Person's Vocal "Instrument". What do we mean by that? Throughout the last 33 years, I have been bombarded with phone calls and e-mails from people who have experienced voice or vocal problems. Some of them thought that it had happened to them "out of the blue", so to speak; and moreover, without any indication (whatsoever...) of that happening. A lot of them had attributed it to some colds or viruses; and only some of them had agreed that their lifestyles had not been exactly "clean and shiny"... However, (and nevertheless) the severe cold, virus and especially strep throat, could be a trigger to a mild or even serious voice disorder. As it appears to be, those people tend to eat a lot of fast foods, tons of dairy (which produces a lot of mucus), consume a lot of salty and spicy foods, which affect the throat flora, and evidently, also indulge in smoking, drinking and even drug use. Some of them (on top of that) do...

There could be numerous causes for that nasty and serious disorder.  Interestingly enough, the voice of the sufferer is greatly compromised; however, it is only a symptom and not the cause.   The causes could be induced by emotional, psychological and neurological traumas. For example - a tragic event happens and a switch between autonomous actions that are coordinated between the brain and the control function of the neck, thyroid and larynx becomes affected. As a result, the ‘voice user’ experiences uncontrollable spasms within the neck structure/muscles and other areas that may not have been recorded, especially if they were not ever searched for. Of course, it could also be due to the misuse of one’s voice, as well as via contracted viruses such as a severe infectious cold, flu, strep throat and whatnot. I personally compare this nasty disorder to epilepsy and, in this context, I actually call it “ Vocal Epilepsy” The traumas also could be caused by ne...