A Voice Apart

Once again, reader’s discretion is advised. Also, due to the personal and intimate nature of the story, some names have been withheld.      At the beginning of the year 2016, we got an email and then (when we asked her) a call from a woman who was residing near Dallas, Texas and who had undergone a few surgeries on her thyroid (due to cancer diagnosis). And as a consequence, Ms. Schilling ended up not only with a paralyzed vocal cord but also with a hole in her throat due to a very "brutal" tracheotomy. Due to that, Ms. Schilling had a very hard time swallowing foods; and a lot of the times, she could not keep her food down and, apparently, had been expelling it quite often. Due to all of that, needless to say, J.M. was quite underweight and, obviously, did not possess a lot of energy. To boost the latter, we suggested to Ms. Schilling to order the specific natural herbal remedies with specific instructions just for her. Since she had difficulties swallowing, all of ...

The term Muscle Tension Dysphonia is a general term that could be associated with an imbalance in the vocal anatomy's muscles coordination as well as breathing patterns required to create the sound of the human voice. Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) may occur suddenly, or, most likely, as a result of a strained voice being pulled into the neck muscles. The reason behind this disorder is not always known. It may be triggered by allergies, illness,  acid reflux or, by whichever other means... Symptoms - The most common symptom of this disorder is a change in voice quality, often associated with discomfort of the throat and/or vocal box in general while speaking or singing. Also, almost always, symptoms like hoarseness and raspiness will be associated with an increased effort to talk or sing, coupled with subsequent fatigue during continuous voice overuse and/or (outright) misuse. Treatment - There is an alternative form of voice therapy which is the gold standard for th...

Vocal Cord Paralysis (Paresis) is a very serious voice disorder . If there are (God Forbid) both vocal cords paralyzed, (which means there is no movement whatsoever happening between them), there is not much (if at all) that could be done to bring those vocal cords to their normal working order. The person who suffers from that horrible voice condition, practically, is mute, as he/she cannot formulate any words. It is indeed very sad! A few years ago, a handsome executive-looking Asian man walked in through my office doors. Luckily, his wife was accompanying him; as otherwise, I would not be able to understand anything what he was trying to say. She told me that her husband had an operation performed on his thyroid when he had, what doctors thought, a benign lump. After this first surgery, one of his vocal cords got paralyzed . At that time he, apparently, still could talk; however already, with great difficulty. Then, a year later, he was diagnosed...

Over the years, I have been attending to many clients with voice problems who had undergone speech therapies of one kind or another. Unfortunately for them, they have not gotten anything out of it and some of them actually got worse. Needless to say that, at best, they left the speech therapy office feeling exactly the same as quite a few speech sessions ago and “quite a few” dollars spent. They were especially doomed if they came to speech therapy to fix their singing voice. The fact is that those speech therapists are not trained in vocals, thus they could not be knowledgeable in the restoration of voice mechanics . Some of the singers who have , so to speak, lost their ability to sing for whatever reason, actually have their speaking voice intact or close to normal. When they come to speech therapy, they are asked to blow into a kazoo or blow a bubble into the water. They are also asked to “moo and hum” some strange sounds, which really have nothing to do...

Indeed, should you give up or rather do something which will (at least) improve the quality of your life? What are those untretable, nasty voice disorders ? It definitely is vocal paralysis (paresis) or both vocal cords, the severe forms of spasmodic dysphonia , the severe forms of muscle tension dysphonia , scar tissue on the vocal cords , damaged vocal box and it’s anatomy due to/or during the surgical procedure and many more others . Once, not too long ago, in my office/studio walked in a middle-aged, pretty handsome Asian man with his wife. It was very sad to try to speak with the man, as there was nothing else coming out of his mouth but mooing. I could not understand one word he was trying to say. Then his wife took over the “conversation”. She told us a story that her husband had a cancer of thyroid. Then the doctors first were trying to get rid of the cancer, they conducted a surgical procedure , which had paralyzed one of his vocal cords ( vocal p...