Rein In Your Hoarseness

Lisa Popeil

Hoarseness is caused by the swelling of the vocal fold tissue and be a huge problem for professional voice users. There are many reasons one can be hoarse but there are two main categories: inflammation related to illness and swelling from overuse or misuse. Either way, your vocal sound could be described as raspy, noisy, breathy, rough or strained and you may notice changes in pitch (higher or lower) or loudness.

Laryngitis or inflammation of the larynx (voice-box) and vocal folds can result from viral or bacterial infections such as colds and bronchitis. If you’re not sick, you can have laryngitis resulting from reflux (GERD), smoke irritation, yelling or even talking too much, coughing chronically, external laryngeal trauma such as a whack to the neck, growths on the folds such as cysts, nodules or tumors and a whole boatload of neurological causes and serious diseases. People even exhibit vocal problems because of psychological problems.

The main reasons we singers get hoarse is that by and large, singers are mouth-oriented people. We tend to talk a lot, enjoy eating, drinking, laughing; all in all we’re not particularly careful about our voice use. We sing because we love to communicate and that can backfire resulting in raspy morning voice. And even though smoking is thankfully waning in popularity in our culture, singers still often perform in smoky settings and may even take the occasional drag (say it isn’t so!). For those singers living and working in Colorado or Arizona or any dry climate, there’s the added challenge of keeping the vocal tract hydrated. For the desert or mountain singers, consider having a 24-hour humidifier in your living environment or even backstage in your dressing room set to a minimum of 45% humidity. (Check out Air-O-Swiss 7135 Humidifiers with digital read-out).

Having looked at many a larynx using videostroboscopy, I can attest to the wet, gooey environment of the healthy larynx. So it’s important to stay hydrated and avoid beverages which dry you out, such as coffee and alcohol. Though there are many fine throat sprays marketed towards singers (such as Vocal-Eze & Clear Voice ), spray doesn’t actually touch or affect the vocal fold tissue itself. Such remedies work to hydrate your vocal tract which helps to relieve sore throat discomfort.

Traditionally, if a famous singer was impossibly hoarse prior to an important gig, the only recourse has been to have a voice doctor administer a steroid shot to temporarily reduce the swelling allowing the show to go on. I once tried the pill-form of the steroid treatment and I can comfortably say “Don’t do it!!” It was a disaster. Not only did my vocal cords swell even more but I felt strange for a week. There’s a better way!

After the steroid fiasco, I made a discovery which I’d like to share with you. I thought to myself “What product is already on the market made to shrink swollen tissues?” You guessed it...Preparation H. Use only the ointment form, which is the original formula and do not use generic- it doesn’t work as well. I believe that this cream is the greatest boon to singers and professional speakers for relief from occasional hoarseness. It seems to work best on laryngitis caused by reflux, the splashing of stomach acid onto the vocal folds resulting in swelling. But it does seem to work to a lesser degree on overuse laryngitis. It should be used only occasionally since no one knows what effect this vasoconstrictor might be having on the thyroid gland. If you want to try it, here’s my recipe the next time you experience minor hoarseness:

Count from 1-10 in your best voice. Then put a small dab of the ointment on the front of your neck in a rectangular pattern approximately 2” high by 2” wide over your Adam’s Apple area. Women should wait 30 seconds before counting aloud again and men should wait 60 seconds. Then count from 1-10 once more and see if there’s any improvement in your voice. Depending on the severity of your hoarseness, the effect can last as little as 20 minutes and as much as all night. There seem to be no side effects, no bounce-back (additional swelling the next day) and no problems except no one will kiss you smelling like a fish. Truthfully, you can wipe off the excess with a tissue after a couple minutes.

My preliminary investigation has found that overuse laryngitis can improve by 10%-40% within one minute and that reflux laryngitis seems to improve as much as 90%. Pretty exciting stuff. Give it a try and let me know what you think! If you want extra soothing, add a dab of Heel Hemmoroid Relief cream onto your neck. It won’t improve the quality of your voice, but it sure does feel good. Medical disclaimer here: Try both of these remedies at your own risk.

Also consider having the supplement NAC on-hand. That stands for N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine, an amino acid which is a precursor to the antioxidant glultathione. At the first sign of laryngitis, take 500-600 mg 2x a day. There are no known toxicity effects. This one was a recommendation by New York City’s Naturopathic Laryngologist, Dr. Benjamin Asher.

Last advice for laryngitis comes from sports medicine. Cold compresses. Hey, it works on swelling from injury everywhere else in the body. Take a washcloth and wet it in cold water. Let it rest on your neck for a few minutes. Only caveat here, is not to apply cold compresses before using your voice. This is for a ‘cool-down’ after vocal exertion.

Now that I’ve passed on these tantalizing tidbits, here are some tried and true ways to keep your voice healthy.
+ Quit smoking.
+ Don’t drink alcohol or caffeine.
+ Avoid exposure to secondhand smoke
+ Watch what you eat- avoid spicy foods
+ Don’t sing or talk too loudly or for too long
+ If you need to project, use a microphone
+ Get professional voice training
+ Schedule adequate voice rest
+ Avoid speaking or singing when hoarse if possible
+ Stay hydrated.