You hear a lot about honey, lemon and ginger in relation to voice difficulties (such as a sore throat for example) and I equally get asked a lot about remedies. For the sake of clarity let’s focus on drinks for now. The likes of honey and ginger are antibacterial and so they do have properties in them that are helpful. … Read More
What Effect Does Testosterone Hormone Therapy Have on the Voice?
Testosterone therapy given to people transitioning into male will have a direct effect on the vocal cords. It will make the vocal cords thicker. Thicker vocal cords in turn, produce a deeper / lower pitch. Although for most people, testosterone can have quite a strong effect, there are people for whom it may only produce a mild effect. It’s rare … Read More
Tis the season for reflecting, refining and adopting the new..
The Antoni Method Educating, encouraging, empowering In spite of my many years as a voice specialist speech and language therapist, rarely a day goes by when I do not have a thought about refining my voice work or an idea for a teaching course or a way of adapting an exercise to further help clients. The huge advantage of seeing … Read More
Trans-Vocal: Presenting at the 31st World Congress of the IALP, Taipei 2019
Attending the 31st World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP) this August was most definitely one of my 2019 highlights. Not only did it give me the opportunity to be ‘trans-vocal’, it also gave me the chance to co-present with fellow voice specialist professionals; attend a range of presentations about voice; meet up with old friends … Read More
The Highs and the Lows: The Issue of Puberphonia
Generally speaking, cases of puberphonia do not present frequently at the Voice clinician’s door. When they do, our interventions tend to be short and satisfying for both patient and clinician as successful outcomes often come quickly. What is puberphonia? Puberphonia occurs in males whose voices remain high after they have gone through the other physiological changes associated with puberty. The condition … Read More
Seeing the Vocal Light: A Case of Laryngeal Papillomatosis
What is laryngeal papillomatosis? The diagnosis of vocal cord papilloma can prove to be one of the most challenging voice conditions for sufferers . For voice therapists, our interventions are often limited and restricted to pre and post surgery assessment and advice. Papillomatosis is a rare condition in which small benign tumours caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) infect the … Read More
You’re As Young As Your Voice
Voice Matters- Whatever Your Age Whether I’m assisting a performer or a retired person back to vocal health , their voice matters to them- and to me. Loss of voice function can be debilitating and socially and professionally limiting sometimes, it can cause huge financial loss. The Professor and The Conference One day I was contacted by a polite 86 yr old gentleman … Read More
ELVIS & CHER: From Fernando to Walking In Memphis
The Loss of a King The 16th August sees the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. I’m a lifelong fan. It started from early childhood I think because my parents had so many albums and I was a kid that listened to singers and played albums – a lot. Just like people of a certain age remember where they … Read More
The Girl With No Voice
10 year old Mary had not voiced for over 3 months. Not one vocalisation related to speech had ensued from her vocal tract in that time. She had already seen two ENTs and one speech therapist with no return of Voice. The second ENT, referred Mary to me. Both ENTs had assessed Mary’s laryngeal anatomy as normal with no evident … Read More
Mind the Gap: The Breathy Singer
There’s a place for breathy voice quality. In singing, it can feature for stylistic reasons or as part of falsetto range. In the spoken voice though, it might best be limited to an intimate bedroom setting. A spoken voice that’s too heavily populated with breathy voice quality is usually a voice that’s in trouble – either the vocal cords aren’t … Read More