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World Voice Day: Tips For Isle Of Wight Residents On How To Look After Yours

70 Mile May

Today (Friday) is World Voice Day and Islanders are being given some tips from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust on how to look after yours.

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World Voice Day has been celebrated since 1999 and on this day, voice care professionals and researchers such as Speech and Language therapists, Ear Nose and Throat specialists and professional voice users across the world, gather together to shine a light on the phenomenon of the human voice.

This year the voice community at St. Mary’s Hospital is drawing attention to the virtual voice and how to maintain a healthy voice online.

Video meetings can be challenging for a number of reasons: poor auditory and visual reception, the increased effort required to process elements of non-verbal communication, self-awareness of being watched, delays (lag), sitting for a long time in one position with the head held forward and a crouched back.

Talking for a long period of time in an uncomfortable position can make the muscles around the larynx (voice box) tense. Prolonged tension in those muscles can result in a lack of coordination of the vocal system. This can cause the voice to become croaky and weak and speaking effortful. This can lead to vocal injury.

Tips for a healthy voice:

  • use a chair that helps you maintain good posture and spend some of the workday standing
  • position the screen directly in front of you to avoid leaning forward
  • use headphones or external speakers
  • use an external microphone
  • don’t ‘shout’ at your screen, imagine the person you are speaking to is as near as your mic
  • schedule short, frequent breaks into the workday to prevent voice fatigue, e.g. five minutes per hour
  • start the working day with 5-10 minutes of stretches for body and voice, e.g. gentle stretches for the neck and shoulders, humming a simple tune and feeling the vibrations of the lips
  • reset your voice during the day with simple voice exercises such as trilling your lips or pretending to suck a straw
  • end the working day with a cool down, e.g. body stretches and voice glides from high to low
  • inhale warm steam using only water
  • set your work hours and stick to it even if the work is not finished
  • engage in leisure activities that do not require gazing into an electronic screen
  • do regular physical exercises, e.g. go for a walk or a bike ride, do some stretching or yoga
  • have regular periods of voice rest in total silence, focus on nasal breathing and meditate.

Meet Sophie. Sophie is a teacher working and living in Newport. Her voice condition has not stopped her from teaching, and she has become an inspiring influence to those around her. 

 

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