Taking Care of Your Voice While Working From Home
In a unique partnership,Playbilland Ƶ have kicked off theܳseries, “Centerstage with Healthcare Heroes.” In thefirst installment, Broadway starTellyLeung (“Aladdin,” “ALLEGIANCE,” and the TV series,“G”)led adiscussion abouthow peoplecan care for their voices, especiallyasmany continue towork from home. JoiningLeungwas his doctor,LucianSulica, MD, and Anais Rameau, MD;botharephysiciansatthe .
The following piece is based on the first “event.
So many people are working from home these days and are conducting lots ofmeetings and conference calls. How can they care for their voiceswhen they’re using them so often?
There are a number of ways people can protect their vocal cordsin a work-from-home scenario. One is to stay hydrated; you can keep a bottle of waterby your work area.
Unfortunately, thesoundquality of online conference calls isn’t great, so some people areover-talking orover-functioningby speaking more loudly.That caneventuallycreate strain, so we encourage patients to use microphones so they can sound louder with too much effort. That goes hand in hand with the of headphones so we can hear well and modulate our voices accordingly.
It’s important tolisten to our bodies, toassess the quality of our voices on a regular basis so we have an idea of how we should sound and feel.
Are therespecifictriggers forvocal problems?
Certain things can irritate the vocal cordsand causeinflammation. Sometimes it’s the sheer quantity that the voice is used, but also at play can be allergies or the frequency of upper respiratory infections. Sometimes the trigger is the work environment itself, which can include inhaled irritants, such as dust or mold.
For those patients whose vocalproblem is due to use,it’s important we don’t give in to the tendency to “blame the patient”fortheproblem.After all,we don’t blame the athlete who gets sidelined with an injury.
Specialists think of some of the problems our patients face as bruises.We’reoftentrying to“de-catastrophize”voice challenges in our work, particularly since many solutions to vocal problems don’t involve surgical intervention.
Let’s hear more about that. What types of approaches are doctors using at the Sean Parker Institute for the Voice?
We work with the whole patient, so we like to use a team approach. We provide a, from inpatient and outpatient surgeries to behavioral therapy with speech language pathologists and vocal therapists.
Somepeople avoid certain foods because they can causeacidreflux—the regurgitation of stomach acid into the esophagus—which can, in turn, irritate the vocal cords.Would you please address that?
In truth, it’s all about balance. Many people avoid certain foods because they’re acidic. But there isn’t hard medical data to support that notion.Though manypeopleare told toskipor limit their intake ofcoffee, chocolate, tomatoes,orcitrus, that isn’t alwaysnecessary. They’re finein moderation. (Wedodiscouragetreating a voice problem withvinegar, despite amistaken notion that it’s an effectivehome remedy.)
Here’s where food comes into play: if we eat a big meal before going to bed, gravity can induce reflux.Having alighter meal before bedis good idea.
I’ve heard the term “vocal cache.”What is it,and how does it relate to caring for one’s voice?
A cache—a reserved storage location—can bea useful way to think about ourday-to-dayvocaluse,both professionally and personally. It can help patientsbecome more aware of how we use our voicesandhow muchvocal energy we have left at the end of the day.
If we have a good idea of our vocal cacheand wellness patterns, wecan take better care of ourselves. For example, if a patient knows that they usually throw off an upper respiratory infection in four or five days, but their voice isn’t bouncing backand they don’t have the usual “cache,”thatmight be somethingwe need tohelp themexplore.