Have you ever felt your voice failing or become hoarser after an intense day’s work? Or have you already had a pain in the throat after using the voice for hours continuously? Situations such as these occur when the voice is used in an excessive way. The pain or discomfort are ways of the body alerting about something which is wrong.
However, those who use the voice as a work instrument, cannot allow themselves to stop using it whenever a problem arises. Indeed, this can end up costing a lot of work.
Therefore, instead of remedying it is better to prevent. And this prevention must be done through daily care. See below the cares which you as announcer need to have with your voice.
Drinking water regularly aids in caring for the voice
Have you already noted that the more you speak, the dryer the voice becomes? And at the time of voiceovers it is not very different, however much you speak with pauses. There comes a moment when it becomes more difficult to articulate certain words and this impairs the diction.
Therefore, drinking water is essential for taking care of the voice, even more when you are using it professionally. And water aids just because it allows vocal emissioon without stress, besides maintaining the organism hydrated.
So, do not forget: always have a bottle of water beside you.
Another important tip is to avoid extremely hot or cold liquids, as this can hinder voice projection.
Announcers must maintain a healthy diet
It is importantto eat well to ensure vocal health. Fatty, citric or very acid food can end up aggravating cases of backflow, for example, which can cause problems to the larynx or vocal folds.
Therefore, choose healthy food to care for the voice and keep it healthy.
See certain food which you must avoid, if you are already suffering from backflow:
– Fried potato;
– Orange;
– Lemon;
– Pineapple;
– Tomato.
Chocolate can be an enemy of your voice
Another food which you must avoid as much as possible is chocolate. Although delicious, it increases the production of vocal secretion, which makes it difficult to emit the voice.
Therefore, if you cannot do without this sweet,at least avoid eating it when using the voice for working. Or, seek to swallow small quantitiers only on specific days of the week. Self-control will aid you to not harm your voice.
Apple needs be the announcer’s favorite fruit
If on one hand there is food which you must avoid, on the other hand there is that which can help. And this is the case of the apple.
Several speech therapists recommend swallowing this fruit, just because it is astringent. In other words, it is capable of cleaning the vocal fold and, thus, ensure greater health and clarity when you need to use the voice to work.
Save your voice
Those who use the voice to live, need to preserve it as much as possiblel. To do so, it is important to save it so the vocal cords can relax.
Try to spend several hours of the day in silence, avoiding speaking unnecessarily.
Although it is essential care, many announcers do not realize how important it is to save their voice. Therefore, if you want to ensure that it is healthy, do not forget that silence can be your friend.
Avoid shouting
This may seem to be an obvious recommendation for someone who wants to have a healthy voice. Nevertheless, sometimes you can have this habit without noticing it.
Whether it is because the person that you want to speak to is far away or because the environment is noisy, there always occasions when increasing the tone of the voice is necessary. However, it is important to know how to get around these situations to avoid wear.
If speaking unnecessarily can already affect the resting of your vocal folds, then shouting can tire them even further.
Take care of that cough
If you have been coughing a lot lately, be aware that it is good to see a doctor to take care of it. Coughing causes friction in the vocal cords and, the longer that it lasts, the greater the impact on the voice’s health.
That is why it is important to seek the aid of a specialist to avoid greater complications.
The hazard of anesthetics for your voice
Another reason that it is important to see a doctor is that only (s)he can treat your cough, instead of simply “masking it”.
It is normal to use sprays, lozenges and tablets to alleviate the irritation or even the pain. Nevertheless, this use is dangerous. That is because the anesthetic effect of the sprays, lozenges and tablet can hide the symptoms, giving a false sensation of normality.
While you think that it is better, in truth you will be forcing the vocal musculature, harming it even more.
So, remember to use them in moderation and only occasionally. Do not make a habit of it, so as to avoid impairing your voice instead of aiding it.
Air-conditioning harms your vocal health
Avoiding environments in which air-conditioning is connected is one of the cars that you need to take with your voice. However much there are days when it is necessary to handle the heat, it is important to stay away from it to ensure vocal health.
Air-conditioning is hanrful to the announcer’s voice just because it reduces the humidity of the air and this dries the region of the vocal folds.
However, if you are unable to avoid daily contact with air-conditioning, increase the consumption of water to compensate the drying.
Avoid cigarettes and alcoholic drinks
To care for your voice, it is necessary that habits such as smoking and drinking alcohol are given up. Speech therapists warn that the use of both affects the larynx, which impairs vocal health.
Excess smoking can also attack the breathing system and, mainly, the vocal cords. This is because it is harmful and can cause irritation.
While excess alcohol also damages the vocal folds, just because it has an anesthetic effect. Thus, you can end up using the voice in as harmful way without knowing it.
This is some of ten cares that every announcer can take to preserve vocal health. If you know or practise other ways of caring for the voice, let us know through comments.
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