Kate's Voice

Eating late?  You may awaken with laryngitis.  Too much spaghetti?  Tomorrow you may pay with a hoarse voice.  The perils of eating the wrong food at the wrong time do not threaten the waistline alone.  Perhaps you have heard of reflux laryngitis, or acid reflux.  This is a condition caused by stomach acids crawling back up the esophagus instead of staying in your stomach where they belong…and it can be uncomfortable, fattening, and  also hazardous to the health of your voice.

Singers and actors who go out with the cast after a show often experience hoarseness due to acid reflux.  But so do many others who simply eat too much or who eat foods that create indigestion.  Such foods may be spicy,  fatty, or acidic.  You may experience gaseous feelings after eating cucumbers. For others it may be wheat products that make them burp.  In any event, acid reflux is no fun to begin with, but the fact that it is a vocal problem as well is additional food for thought…no pun intended…especially if you are a professional voice user, such as a teacher or lawyer or sales person.

Acid reflux symptoms are the following: heartburn, chronic throat clearing and or coughing, burning at the back of the throat after eating, and hoarseness/sore throat in the morning or after lying down.

Acid reflux can be controlled or eliminated by doing the following:

1. Avoid eating within two hours of your bedtime and avoid going to bed on a full stomach.
2. Avoid foods that make you feel “gassy” or cause you to burp, especially before going to sleep.  Healthy eating creates a healthy voice.
3. If you do need to go to sleep on a full stomach,  sleep sitting up for a couple of hours and then lie down.

If you do end up with laryngitis due to acid reflux, be sure to rest your voice and drink plenty of warm fluids.  This is a common voice problem that can be controlled with some awareness and altered behavior.  For more info on several  common voice problems and what causes them click here.

It’s Monday, time for Monday Night Football.  Fans will be screaming in the stands and in the living room.  Some will end the day without a voice.  Most people don’t give laryngitis much thought, treating it  much as they would a runny nose or a cut on the finger, thinking it will get better.  However, the voice is more fragile than one would think, and even one bad scream can cause permanent damage.  Screaming is considered to be vocal abuse, not just misuse.  In most people, the small muscles of the vocal folds cannot sustain much abuse and laryngitis is an indication that you went too far!!

So if you go too far with that screaming, be sure to get some vocal rest.  Be quiet, drink warm liquids instead of cold, and write notes to people instead of talking.  Give yourself a couple of days to recover.

Note on SCREAMING as SINGING:  My children used to try to convince me that “screamers” in rock music could scream without hurting their voices.  Basically, this is completely false.  There is no way to have a strong, flexible,  healthy voice if you scream all the time unless you are a vocal freak…and there are some of those around too.  On the other hand, if you like the raspy sound, scream a lot, smoke at least a pack a day, and if your voice gets tired, rock on.