It might come to you as a shock that that vocal misuse is one of the common causes of hoarness and vocal difficulties. 90% of Singers or Musicians use their voices wrongly.
What is Vocal Misuse?
Vocal misuse is simply the wrong usage of the voice.
Speaking is a physical task that requires coordination of breathing with the use of several muscle groups. It should come as no surprise that, just like in any other physical task, there are efficient and inefficient ways of using your voice. Excessively loud, prolonged, and/or inefficient voice use can lead to vocal difficulties, just like improper lifting can lead to back injuries. Excessive tension in the neck and laryngeal muscles, along with poor breathing technique during speech leads to vocal fatigue, increased vocal effort, and hoarseness. Voice misuse and overuse puts you at risk for developing benign vocal cord lesions (see below) or a vocal cord hemorrhage.
Circumstances that are associated with vocal misuse
1. Using inappropriate pitch(too high or too low) when speaking
2. Speaking or shouting at the top of your voice when publicly speaking
3.Telephone use with the handset cradled to the shoulder
When you misuse your voice, it causes trauma to the vocal cords such as lessions(bumps)
lesions (or bumps) on the vocal cord(s) alter vocal cord vibration and lead to hoarseness. The most common vocal cord lesions are nodules, polyps, and cysts. Vocal nodules (also known as nodes or singer’s nodes) are similar to calluse? of the vocal cords.
vocal nodules are treatable and when treated leads to improvement in most cases.
As singers, please use your voice in the right ways.
