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Liner Notes
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Body
& Soul
Voice Care with David M. Alessi, M.D
SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENTS FOR COMMON VOICE PROBLEMS, AND VOCAL REST
MBADC: What are some symptoms that should send a singer to the doctor?
DA: Basically, if there’s two or three nights in a row where they
can’t get their voice back, or if all of a sudden they’re completely, completely
without a voice, which we call aphonic. If they’re
completely aphonic, then that’s something that should bring them to the doctor.
Because there are a few things that can be really disastrous, and they are: bleeding into
the vocal chords, or an actual rip or tear of the vocal cords, and they will be presented
with a complete loss of the voice. And the just other things that basically are chronic
recurrent problems…Sometimes there’s a small little cyst or something on the
vocal cord that intermittently will fill up with fluid, that can very easily be treated
either medically or surgically and eliminate a lot of their problems.
MBADC: Are the treatments for vocal fatigue, soreness or pain in the
throat, and hoarseness essentially the same? Or how do they differ?
DA: They’re all completely different. [For example,] a vocal nodule is like a little callous on a vocal cord from
chronic vocal over use, and that is usually treated by vocal rest. Getting to vocal rest,
no performer should really have complete, complete silence. What they should do is after
having problems, they should minimize their singing and their speaking as much as they
can. But it’s OK to do some singing drills and things that are easy every day…
[Because] if they have complete vocal rest for a week or so, when they come back it’s
actually going to be harder to do. But that’s the vocal nodule.
Reflux Laryngitis & Food on Show Days
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