China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Speech and Language Therapy for Voice Disorders
Published in John C Watkinson, Raymond W Clarke, Terry M Jones, Vinidh Paleri, Nicholas White, Tim Woolford, Head & Neck Surgery Plastic Surgery, 2018
Marianne E. Bos-Clark, Paul Carding
There is a wide range of activities in voice therapy where the SLT supports the patient in managing the contributory and maintaining aspects of the voice disorder. This includes explanation, stress management and general relaxation.14, 34 The following activities are included in indirect voice therapy: vocal rest programmepatient education, explanation of the problemvocal hygiene programmeelimination of habitual coughing, throat clearingreassurancecounsellinggeneral relaxation.
In-clinic procedures
Published in Declan Costello, Guri Sandhu, Practical Laryngology, 2015
Nancy Solowski, Greg Postma, Paul Weinberger
If a biopsy was performed or mucosa breached (such as from injections, some laser interventions, etc.), patients should be warned that they may notice some blood-tinged sputum. Patients with larger amounts of bleeding should call for medical assistance and go to the local emergency room. Many authors recommend a period of vocal rest after surgical procedures involving the true vocal folds. If voice rest is not prescribed, patients should be informed that minor amounts of hoarseness and voice changes are expected immediately after vocal fold surgery. Markedly strained voicing or aphonia after completion of prescribed voice rest should prompt an in-clinic laryngoscopic examination to evaluate for possible vocal fold haemorrhage. If a vocal fold haemorrhage is noted, close follow-up and strict voice rest are indicated to minimise the chance of permanent scar tissue formation and dysphonia.
My Daily Meal
Published in Phillip Joy, Megan Aston, Queering Nutrition and Dietetics, 2023
The training of opera singers in London in the 1970s is the context for my “toughing it out” on the audition circuit, despite the emotional toll of continually being rejected. Aspiring operatic sopranos were a dime a dozen, which meant many were driven to extremes to be chosen for a plum role, including dieting to look the part and putting up with the bullying tactics of some teachers and vocal coaches. Sopranos were lined up to take over from anyone who failed to excel immediately, as I soon discovered. I was about to perform my first major role in the college opera school – Violetta in Act 2 of La Traviata – when I began to experience vocal difficulties. My singing teacher was caring and old-school, very protective of his singers' voices. Suspecting infection, he sent me to a Harley Street specialist who still practiced in the tried-and-true way, using nothing strong to numb my larynx to examine it. He darkened the room, numbed only my palate, placed a strong light at the back of my throat, and saw from outside the profile of the vocal cords. He diagnosed infection and prescribed complete vocal rest for at least two weeks to prevent the infection around the cords from developing into nodes, which typically need surgery and risk changing one's vocal quality irreparably. This meant no talking and definitely no whispering, which is more harmful because it rubs the cords together. Singing was out of the question. The artistic director of the opera school was not impressed and made me feel like a coward for backing out, even though I had an understudy. Other students told stories of their teachers pushing them to take the drugs prescribed by the newer Harley Street specialists to help them sing on top of an infection. My teacher warned that this was not the best option for long-term vocal health. I took his advice and missed singing my first starring role, in front of critics and opera company recruiters.
Efficacy of speech language therapy intervention in unilateral vocal fold paralysis – a systematic review and a meta-analysis of visual-perceptual outcome measures
Published in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 2021
Rita Alegria, Susana Vaz Freitas, Maria Conceição Manso
Direct voice therapy alone or a combination of indirect and direct voice therapy strategy to be effective in patients with UVFP. This is particularly true when the length of time with paralysis has been less than a year. Direct voice therapy focuses on voice-production elements such as breathing, phonation, and musculoskeletal function, while indirect voice therapy focuses mainly on education and prevention (e.g. vocal hygiene and vocal rest) of risk factors that aggravate the disorder [17]. According to the current review, there is a lack of consensus regarding which type of voice techniques are more beneficial because most therapies are based on patients’ individual symptoms of voice use and clinical judgment of the speech-language pathologists (or therapists).
Vocal tract discomfort in caregivers for the elderly during an interval of the COVID-19 pandemic
Published in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 2022
Sophia Gantner, Ursula Deitmerg, Maria Schuster
Masks have been shown to influence upper airway well-being [15]. As a consequence, we propose regular care by moisturizing products with regard to the experienced dryness of the vocal tract and sufficient pauses during work hours. According to occupational health and safety acts in Europe, the constant use of personal protection equipment such as FFP2, KN95, and N95 requires regular pauses giving the opportunity to vocal resting and for hydration (e.g. constant use of masks for 75 min and 30 min pauses). However, regarding caretakers for the elderly, the time necessary for sufficient vocal rest also depends on other internal and external factors besides the use of masks and might be complemented by other means on vocal hygiene. As in the questionnaire, vocal tract sensations demonstrated a significant relationship with hoarseness, voice training or counseling on voice hygiene education may have an impact on caregivers’ vocal tract well-being [41]. Caregivers for the elderly should be informed about the importance of voice for successful communication and about daily care for the voice, as well as for the background and treatment of voice disturbances. Voice hygiene education includes the knowledge and awareness on unfavorable voice use (e.g. yelling or throat clearing) and its effects on vocal tract sensations, vocal resting especially after extended voice use, hydration, knowledge on effects of other diseases, hormone level and medication as well as on influencing environmental factors and lifestyle [42]. Voice education might be expanded by low-threshold voice training such as water-resistance therapy. Endoscopic evaluations using high-speech-endoscopy proved its influence on vocal fold dynamics and showed a more stable phonation when used adequately [43]. However, this might not be suitable for everyone and sometimes requires individual instructions.
Influence of the characteristics of home office work on self-perceived vocal fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic
Published in Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 2022
Larissa Thaís Donalonso Siqueira, Jhonatan da Silva Vitor, Ana Paula dos Santos, Rebeca Liaschi Floro Silva, Pamela Aparecida Medeiros Moreira, Vanessa Veis Ribeiro
Three mechanisms influence vocal fatigue development: fatigue in laryngeal muscles and mucosa, and mental fatigue [15]. The vocal fatigue symptoms caused by occupational situations decreased with vocal rest [14,15,32]. Tissues and mucous membranes recover fast with the redistribution of fluids and blood flow restoration. Muscle recovery, which takes longer, happens from the rebalancing and restoration of the laryngeal muscles' biomechanical and physiological properties [33]. Short-term recovery occurs two hours after excessive voice use [30], and long-term recovery occurs between 7 and 20 h [34]. Vocal recovery is slower in individuals with behavioral dysphonia [34]. In addition to vocal rest, other strategies can improve worker health to reduce vocal fatigue symptoms, such as vocal health, with well-being guidelines. Another strategy is vocal training, which helps in aerobic conditioning with increased tissue oxygenation [35], associated with auditory skills training. The literature has recommended using auditory cues, using auditory feedback devices during vocal therapies so that patients can learn to hear and monitor their voices, favoring the maintenance of the intensity and frequency of the sound produced [36]. Some central auditory processing skills can be trained in these home office workers to improve performance in remote activities, such as the temporal processing [37]. Since home office workers wear headphones for a long time and work in environments with competitive noise, it is necessary to train them in auditory skills to improve vocal monitoring [37,38], mainly from figure-ground, selective attention, and temporal ordering (intensity, duration, and frequency of sound). It is believed that this can prevent behavioral dysphonia by improving volitional control of the voice. Besides, training on voice use in a virtual environment is important to improve control of devices, such as microphones and headphones, and communicative aspects, such as shift change between interlocutors, in addition, training to increase body awareness and sensations related to phonation. These questions can improve the understanding of the message and promote assertive communication.