Basics of Vocal Care

Vocal care (also known as vocal hygiene) is a set of tools and habits that maintain the health and efficiency of your vocal folds. These include actionable steps to preserve vocal health, as well as situations to steer clear of to avoid unnecessary strain on the voice.

Hydration/Dehydration

• Staying well hydrated by drinking approximately 2L of water a day helps lubricate your vocal folds, which then helps them vibrate more efficiently.

• Be aware of caffeinated drinks. Caffeinated drinks can have a drying effect due to the adrenaline release they trigger.

• Menthol and eucalyptus can also be very drying to the throat. Manuka honey, hot tea or ice chips can be a good natural alternative for a sore throat if required.

• While decongestants can be helpful for drying up mucus production, that same mucus is important to keep the vocal folds lubricated for healthy phonation.

Steaming

• When you drink water, the epiglottis closes to protect the lungs, which redirects the water to your stomach and away from your vocal folds. This means that water vapour from steaming is the only way to provide moisture directly to the vocal folds.

• The heat from steaming relaxes the muscles of the vocal tract, reducing tension and increasing flexibility.

• Steaming reduces and thins mucus - just make sure to avoid adding drying oils such as eucalyptus.

Sleep

• Just like the rest of our body and muscles, our voice often feels tired and/or sluggish when we’re low on sleep. If you’re too tired to use the correct supporting muscles, you may end up compensating with the incorrect ones.

• Not only is sleep a great period of forced vocal rest, you’re also allowing your body to go through it’s natural restorative processes, which help reduce risk of injury and fatigue.

• Sleep is also great for building your immune defences, so you get sick less often.

Vocal pacing/vocal rest

• Even when using perfect technique, the voice is still susceptible to overuse, so be sure to pace yourself and rest when appropriate.

• If you know you’ve got an important vocal event coming up, practise vocal pacing by only using a dedicated amount of your vocal stamina for each activity throughout the day. This will ensure you don’t overexert your voice.

• Be sure to regularly check in with how your voice is feeling and take vocal naps (or mini vocal rests) to allow the voice to recover when it feels tired or strained.

• Remember to avoid whispering when on vocal rest for the reasons listed previously!

Vocal Misuse

• Reduce coughing or throat clearing where possible as this motion can be rather brutal on the vocal folds (just ask Hannah to show you a video!) and causes an accumulation of fluid in the vocal fold tissue. The throat clearing effect can be achieved by sipping water, a hard swallow or a strong ‘h’ exhale.

• Avoid noisy environments that may cause you to “push” your voice to be louder. If you’re going somewhere like a bar, pub, concert or loud restaurant, be sure to keep your speaking voice to a regular volume and adjust other aspects of communication if necessary (more consonants, slower speed, more gestures, etc.)

• In contrast, make sure to avoid whispering too! This can worsen vocal fatigue and injury. Either don’t speak at all, or speak softly and with as much clarity as you can manage.

Irritants

• Alcohol irritates the mucus membrane that lines the throat, which can lead to throat clearing, which agitates the vocal folds.

• Avoid medicated throat lozenges. Lozenges with numbing agents can mask pain from vocal strain, potentially leading you to further damage the vocal folds unknowingly.