Vocal Hygiene Tips

Vocal hygiene is simply put how to keep and maintain your voice in your daily life! What you need to do may vary depending upon the demands on your voice due to  your job or social life.  They may also change depending  on your own physical characteristics but here are some basic tips:

• Keep it balanced!  If you are using your voice a lot during the day or night, try to find times where you can rest your voice.  Be the listener rather than the talker.

• Keep it wet!  Your vocal folds and supporting structures live in a dark and wet area and can become dehydrated quickly.  Ensure you drink liquids throughout the day to ensure appropriate moisture level.  Those who live in Hawaii will rarely need to use a humidifier to ensure the environment stays wet, but those who live in dry areas or where winter happens, might find it beneficial.  Ensure you track water intake,  you might not be drinking as much as you think.

• Avoid clearing your throat or excessive coughing.  Ensure the cause of post-nasal drips (runny noses) are treated by a doctor to limit coughing.  Throat clearing and coughing can become habitual even after the underlying cause has been treated.  If mucous continues to bother you try drinking water first and swallowing hard or creating a sound similar to a cat clearing a hairball (produce an elongated “h”).  

• Know your medications!  This includes over the counter, prescription, supplemental, and natural cures.  While it is important to take prescribed medicine ensure you know what might possibly cause a drying effect on vocal tissues by checking with the “Check your Meds” page at http://ncvs.org/rx.html . Be wary of “natural cures” natural does not necessarily mean safe—arsenic is natural!  Try to counteract the drying of medications by increasing water intake.

• Don’t smoke!  Tobacco can seriously harm your health in the long term, and can harm the vocal tissues in the short term.  Even other substances require one to inhale hot substances through an area which needs to maintain a stable temperature and humidity.  Remember most of us gather around the non-smoky area of a campfire even though wood is natural and hasn’t been shown to cause problems.

• Rest!  Your body is your instrument and it is vital that it receives the rest it needs.  Sometimes this means being quiet when you experience laryngitis due to a cold or flu.  If laryngitis occurs in the absence of symptoms or if it continues for more than two-three days it is time to consult a doctor.  

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Finally a vocologist can help design a daily plan to ensure the health of your voice whether he or she works as your primary voice trainer/teacher or with your voice professional.