Who are professional voice users?
Anyone whose voice is important for their profession or who needs a certain voice quality to impress others is a "professional voice user". Stage artists, singers, actors, announcers and those working in the television world immediately come to mind. Of course, these professional groups are professional voice users, and having a unique and special voice quality is essential for a professional career in these professional groups.
However, teachers, call center workers, imams and muezzins, politicians, music teachers, singing instructors. In many other professional groups such as lawyers, salespeople, sports coaches, verbal communication is important for the work done. Good sound quality is necessary to carry out the profession effectively and correctly. For this reason, the mentioned and many other similar professional groups are also professional voice users.
Voice problems in professional voice users
Professional voice users are not a single professional group. It covers professional groups that are very different from each other in terms of their voice needs and expectations regarding voice. For example, while a performing artist immediately consults a doctor because he cannot sing a certain note clearly and brightly, a kindergarten teacher may postpone going to the doctor until his voice becomes completely hoarse even though his voice has been tired for a long time at the end of the day. However, for all voice professionals, voice-related problems lead to social, emotional and professional (career) problems to varying degrees.
Certain voice problems occur more easily in voice professionals. This is actually a natural situation. Just as knee problems are common in football players and elbow problems in tennis players, it is not surprising that someone who talks for long periods of time or sings for hours may have a voice-related problem. However, unlike athletes, most professional voice users tend to not pay attention to their voice and ignore the voice problem until it reaches a serious level. Unfortunately, a solution to this problem is not sought until the voice problem prevents the profession from being performed effectively.
What can be done to prevent voice problems?
Awareness is the first and most important step. That It is essential for the person to be "aware" that his/her job is a voice-related profession and that this profession carries a high risk of creating voice problems. Many people who have professions that require intense voice use are unaware of a problem with their voice until it occurs.
The second important thing to know is that professions that require excessive use of voice put the person in the risk group for voice problems. A person should monitor his/her own voice by listening to it regularly, so that he/she can detect any problems that may occur in his/her voice at an early stage. Hoarseness should NOT be considered a natural consequence of such occupations. (For example, "Teachers having vocal cord nodules is an occupational disease, it is normal, it cannot be prevented" is frequently said but FALSE information). There are things that can be done to prevent voice problems from occurring.
Finally, it should be known that many voice-related problems can be corrected with an appropriate evaluation and appropriate treatment. In this way, it may be possible for the person to successfully continue his/her profession where voice is of great importance.
It is recommended that the professional voice user be evaluated by an ear, nose and throat physician who is competent and experienced in diagnosing and treating voice problems.
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