Managing Voice Strain in the Classroom
September 21, 2009
It's no surprise that teachers are prone to vocal strain. In a profession that requires you to use your voice for almost eight hours a day"not to mention raise it when students act out"hoarseness is inevitable.
While vocal nodules"noncancerous (benign) growths that cause hoarseness and a breathy voice"are common and can be treated by simply resting your voice, the key to maintaining a healthy larynx is to avoid straining it in the first place.
Speech pathologist Dr. Ingo Titze, director of the National Center for Voice and Speech in Denver, Colorado, suggests teachers measure how often and forcefully they talk on a daily and weekly basis.
Titze recommends that teachers with chronic voice strain ask their physicians for a wearable voice dosimeter, which attaches to the skin of the neck and measures the amount of vocal vibrations in a given period of time.
"If you don't have access to a dosimeter," says Titze, "you can certainly estimate how many hours a day you are talking."
High school teachers, says Titze, tend to press their voice when lecturing and elementary school teachers tend to irritate it by creating strange sound effects and accents when reading storybooks out loud.
"These things aggravate vocal tissue and often teachers will feel like their voice is in their throat," Titze says.
In addition to the simple preventative measures"drinking plenty of water, taking it easy when you're sick or fatigued, and avoiding shouting"Titze recommends one quick and easy wellness exercise.
"Make sounds into a thin stirring straw every two hours," he says. "It'll take a load off your voice by spreading the vocal folds and creating a lighter mechanism of vibration."
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