A Voice Apart

How so; you, my reader, may ask? Our answer is; what else is new…? This story is about our former non-surgical voice repair client, Issac H – a Jewish community leader from Brooklyn, New York.  Once medical doctors had diagnosed Issac with such a disorder as Sulcus Vocalis ( a gap between the vocal cords), they strongly suggested to Issac to undergo a vocal operation.  On that note, Issac visited numerous speech therapists and speech pathologists…  Needless to say, he did not receive any meaningful help. Being only 36 years old at the time, he nearly lost his hope to be able to speak – using his normal voice again.  When he contacted us, he became very emotional and claimed that he was looking for somebody like us for quite a few years now.  He mentioned that he is a very significant person in the Jewish community and jokingly said:  “You know, Diana, we Jewish people are a very loud nation…”   Listening to his story, we, with absolute certainty, said...

The first question you have to ask yourself is: How did I end up with such a nasty diagnosis? You may ask yourself: What have I been doing wrong with respect to my speaking or my singing voice for that matter? Analyzing the above while looking for the answer, you may remember that you have had a bad cold or virus…  At that time, your voice got quite compromised and it became raspy and hoarse. You, meanwhile, were trying to clear your throat quite hard and pushed and pulled your voice (also quite hard) to make it clearer and louder… By doing all of those things, you no doubt, have been straining your vocal cords, and therefore you have been experiencing the consequences of such actions. In the end, you ended up with pain in your throat, with an even more raspy and hoarse voice and, in some cases, even perhaps with breathing difficulties.  By the way, the latter may bring you to the next undesirable diagnosis - you may acquire asthma-like symptoms…  God forbid. Given all th...

The first question you have to ask yourself is: How did you end up with such a nasty diagnosis? You may ask yourself: What have I been doing wrong with respect to my speaking or my singing voice for that matter? Analyzing the above while looking for the answer, you may remember that you had a bad cold or virus… At that time, your voice got quite compromised and it became raspy and hoarse. You, meanwhile, were trying to clear your throat quite hard and pushed and pulled your voice (also quite hard) to make it clearer and louder… By doing all of those things, you no doubt strained your vocal cords , and are now have been experiencing the consequences of such actions. In the end, you ended up with pain in your throat, with an even more raspy and hoarse voice and, in some cases, perhaps with breathing difficulties. By the way, the latter may bring you to the next undesirable diagnosis - you may acquire asthma-like symptoms… God forbid. To get to all of the above, you perhaps u...

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...

Nevertheless, over many years, we treated and cured a lot of people with all kinds of different speech and singing problems. Some of the voice/vocal disorders were straight forward, but some of them not so much; and I really had to figure out what the exact cause would be in order to correct the actual problem. Sometimes, there are clients who come with definite diagnosis, like, for example, a couple of years ago, we had a voice repair client from Brooklyn, New York who was diagnosed with solcus vocalis (gap between the vocal cords), 10 years prior reaching our Institute for Non-Surgical Voice Repair, here in Toronto, Canada. So at the time of such diagnosis, he was 26 years old; and by the time he reached us, he was 36 years old. By the time he finally came to us, his voice disorder progressed to the point whereas the sound of his voice was very scratchy and very raspy. Luckily, via specially designed by me speech exercises along with the application of the natural herbs and...

More and more phone calls and e-mails we are getting from people who have undergone related or non-related surgeries and who’s vocal cords and other parts of the vocal anatomy got damaged in the process.  Recently, we had a few clients who had undergone thyroid removal (thyroidectomy) and all of them ended up with one of their vocal cords being paralyzed ( vocal cord paresis ). One of our former clients who’s voice I fixed previously, but who (unfortunately, by not following the assigned protocol) ended up with having her papilloma growing, had been convinced by her ENT specialist to undergo not one, but two vocal surgeries. In the end, she ended up with what is called Sulcus Vocalis (vocal gap) and, thankfully, (just mild) Muscle Tension Dysphonia. And lastly, a few hours ago, we got an e-mail from a professional person who recently undergone a biopsy procedure for her lung disorder.  After the obvious intubation , she ended up with a very breathy, unclear and...

We, at The Royans Institute for Non-Surgical Voice Repair (luckily not too often), have been getting inquiries from speakers (professional and non-professional) as well as singers, who were experiencing the nasty symptoms and then, concurrently, had gotten diagnosed with a voice disorder named  Sulcus Vocalis .  Those sufferers usually experience a raspy/hoarse voice. They can also sound as if they even stutter a little (due to the enlarged gap between their vocal cords). That is because the sound of their voice (in a manner of speaking) falls in between their vocal cords/folds. Evidently, the timing of the vocal cords opening and closing (on certain occasions) does not always correspond with the actual voice formation. And, thus, the above-described symptoms are prevalent. By that point, the “alignment” between the subconscious mind, conscious mind, physical body and the actual voice, becomes exponentially challenged!   Actually, the total aim of the above de...

Lately, more and more, we are getting inquiries from people concerned with their speech and/or singing problems; All of whom have been diagnosed with a voice disorder named Sulcus Vocalis. While being diagnosed with such a nasty voice disorder as Sulcus Vocalis, those sufferers usually possess a raspy and hoarse voice, which, sometimes, can even sound like a little stutter. The latter is usually caused by the enlarged gap located between the vocal cords (folds), and thus the sufferer's voice falls frequently between them.  In fact, the timing of the vocal cords opening and closing, in those cases, often does not correspond with the voice occurrence.  Naturally, it does require the “alignment” between the subconscious mind, conscious mind, physical body and the voice as an outcome.  All of the above is aimed to achieve the desired “alignment”, between the above-mentioned components and thus, to put the balance back in order. That could be accomplished by using specifi...

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...