Voice.

---

There are many reasons why people suffer with voice difficulties and these can range from voice care issues (such as inadequate hydration), reflux, stress or anxiety to specific problems with the vocal folds or voice box (such as nodules).  Depending on the voice difficulty, it is common for an assessment by an Ear Nose & Throat (ENT) Doctor to be needed.  This can be easily requested through a GP or privately and Claire can advise you further on the process.

People use a huge number of adjectives to describe their voice, ranging from physical sensations (rough, sore, scratchy) to actual sounds (quiet, breathy, scratchy or pitchy).  Often people will give examples of how their voice is letting them down such as 'my voice gets worse as the day goes on' or 'I can't seem to get the high notes anymore'.  The medical description of a voice difficulty is a 'dysphonia'.

Voice is produced by breathing out air from our lungs, up our trachea (wind pipe) and through our vocal folds.  As the air passes through the vocal folds it causes them to vibrate which produces a sound which we then shape into speech by our tongue, teeth or lips.