Factors such as upper respiratory tract infections, sinusitis, allergies, bronchitis, active and passive smoking also cause hoarseness. In acute laryngitis, the vocal cords lose their white appearance and become red and swollen.
This is the case in smokers. The infection becomes chronic. If an irregular mucosal appearance occurs, a biopsy should be taken.
Mothers who frequently shout at their children, cheering during sporting activities, frequently talking to teachers, amateur vocal artists, people with hearing loss, being in noisy environments and excessively dry or dusty environments and talking frequently, Lifting weights and playing wind instruments cause voice disorders. In these cases, as a result of excessive use of the voice with wrong habits, a hard, pinhead-sized mass, which we call a vocal cord nodule, or a gelatin-like, stalked or sessile mass, which we call a vocal cord polyp, is formed. Thanks to these lesions on the ends touching each other, the sound quality changes immediately. A hoarse, breathy, weak voice occurs. Additionally, in smokers and those who have the habit of using their voice badly, another pathology develops, which we call Reinke's edema (smoking polyp) and is characterized by swelling and sagging of the vocal cords like a sail. It is rough and thick. a sound is made. These are easy to treat, we can easily remove the lesions under the microscope with direct laryngposcopy.
Reflux laryngitis, that is, the accumulation of stomach acid behind the vocal cords, causes hoarseness, especially when waking up in the morning, and improves after a long warm-up period. In addition, bad breath, heartburn, burning in the throat and the feeling of something being stuck in the throat occur. During previous operations, the tube used for general anesthesia may create reactive tissues in the vocal cords. Removing tonsils or nose surgeries may change the voice quality. However, the voice is stabilized in 3-6 months with voice therapy.
The most frightening cause of voice disorders is laryngeal tumors. A voice that is constantly and increasingly loud and sometimes brings complaints such as difficulty in swallowing, pain reflected in the ear and discomfort in breathing. There is hoarseness.
Voice Problems
The quality of our voice It is an indisputable fact that it is an important professional tool. Many of the voice diseases occur due to the high performance and forced use of the voice (especially by those we group as professional voice users, such as teachers, call center workers, religious officials, lawyers, voice artists and theater actors, and politicians). Among this group, especially teachers have to talk more than most employees. A study shows that they are 32 times more likely to experience voice problems than other professional audio users.
Imagine a class of 50 energetic 10-year-olds. Add on top of that the whispers that the children in the classroom are trying to suppress, the voices in the corridor, the noise coming from the street, and on top of that the chalk dust flying in the air every time you use the board or the smell emanating from the markers on the whiteboards? Teachers almost have to shout to make their voices heard by students in crowded, noisy, acoustically bad classrooms. When environmental factors are added to this effort, teachers are the group that suffers from voice disorders more frequently. Most talking takes place while exhaling. Air coming from the lungs causes the vocal cords to vibrate, creating a voice tone.
This voice tone; It is transformed into different sounds by tongue, lip and soft palate movements, and speech is formed by the coordination of these sounds. The quality of the sound we make is closely related to how easily (or with effort) the vocal cords move. If the vocal cords vibrate synchronously, the sound produced will sound pleasant to the ear. However, if they come together forcefully, the sound produced will not only be unpleasant, but the vocal cords may be permanently damaged. In every case of shouting, the vocal cords collide with each other. If this situation is repeated too often, the vocal cords become edema, their movements are restricted and the voice becomes hoarse. In the longer term, small structures called nodules form on the vocal cords. When diagnosed early, nodules can be treated with voice therapy, but in most cases, voice abuse continues and the nodules grow.
Even if surgery removes the nodules, the nodule remains. Since it does not eliminate the cause, it only provides a temporary solution to the problem. For many teachers; It will be possible to increase voice health and control environmental factors, ensuring that the trauma caused by intense daily voice use is reduced to a minimum level, if not completely eliminated, by changing the way we use voice. The first important step in preventing voice problems is to recognize one's voice. Being aware of the person's voice quality (soft, hoarse, wheezing, thick, etc.) and the effort he/she makes while speaking (relaxed, pushing, forcing, squeezing, etc.) will provide useful clues about what needs to change. In addition to speech habits, eating and sleeping patterns, social habits, how free time is spent and family life are also important in reorganizing voice use. However, professional life will be much easier for teachers with the techniques learned from an expert speech and language pathologist.
Suggestions on Voice Use
• Be aware of the changes in your voice< br /> • Avoid making pushing or forcing sounds while speaking. • Try not to make very long sentences. Long sentences cause you to make a sound with insufficient breath when you reach the end of your breathing support.
• If your voice gets tired, rest it
• Frequent throat clearing and coughing can irritate and wear out your vocal cords and damage your voice. . Therefore, avoid clearing your throat, satisfy your need to clear your throat by drinking a few sips of water or humming “hmmm” • Try to drink water throughout the day (8-10 glasses). Humidity will be beneficial for your voice.
• Do not smoke.
• Reduce tea, coffee and alcohol consumption. Such drinks may cause your vocal cords to dry out and increase mucus/secretion (phlegm). • Take care to get enough sleep. Insomnia causes fatigue and edema in the voice and leads to hoarseness.
• If you have a reflux problem, it will be beneficial to start its treatment. , develop methods other than straining your voice. • Menthol breath fresheners, candies and lozenges can cause your vocal cords to dry out. Try to stay away from their consumption as much as possible.
• Be careful to do your voice exercises regularly and completely.
• Teachers' voices are more prone to damage because they use their voices at a high capacity. Receiving voice training before the damage in question occurs will prevent serious loss of work force and decreased performance. • If speaking has become an activity that requires special effort for you, after using your voice, you may experience discomfort or pain in your throat, fatigue in your voice or If you feel breaks, consult an Ear-Nose-Throat specialist as soon as possible.
Causes of Voice Problems Nodule
Nodule is a callous-like condition that forms on the vocal cords due to incorrect and intense use of the voice. are structures. These are by no means malignant lesions. Nodules can be treated with voice therapy and voice rest in 90% of cases. In some rare cases that do not respond to voice therapy, surgical treatment may be required as a last resort. The aim of voice therapy is to treat nodules and prevent their formation again.
Reflux
Reflux, which can be seen in both children and adults, does not always cause symptoms such as stomach complaints, but it still causes voice problems. There may be an important reason. In this disease, stomach acid overflows from the stomach, escapes backwards, and spills onto the vocal cords, damaging all the tissues it touches. Patients may experience symptoms such as morning cough, morning hoarseness, bitter water in the mouth, burning in the throat, difficulty in swallowing, feeling of a lump in the throat, burning in the stomach/nausea. Reflux causes damage to the vocal cords, paving the way for both benign and malignant pathologies.
Smoking
Smoking is the most important enemy of the voice! Like smoking, exposure to cigarette smoke damages your airways and especially your vocal cords. Due to smoking, serious edema occurs in the "Reinke space", one of the three layers that make up the vocal cords, and this edema causes thickening of the voice, double voice formation and hoarseness. At this rate, established edema can only be treated surgically. can be done. In some cases, formations such as nodules and cysts accompany this edema. Before the surgical treatment, smoking must be stopped and the surgery must be followed by voice therapy, so that the vocal cords can recover from the effects of the surgery in a healthy way, and the person can have a healthy voice. Smoking is one of the most important causes of malignant lesions in the voice, that is, laryngeal cancer.
Polyp
Polyp may occur in people who use their voice intensively, due to damage to the voice or even sudden trauma. Polyps must first be surgically removed because their explosion in their location may cause damage to the vocal cord on which they are located, or their presence there may cause damage to the opposite vocal cord. Surgery must be followed by voice therapy, and it is necessary to overcome the effects of the surgery in a healthy way, to complete the recovery and to prevent the risk of the same damage from occurring again by changing incorrect speech habits.
Read: 0
