0761 – The Voice Enemies Of Air Con, Carphones and Coughing

2023.01.31 – 0761 – The Voice Enemies Of Air Con, Carphones and Coughing Air conditioning – a dry throat can be caused by heating or air conditioning in homes, offices, trains, planes and cars. Try getting more natural air into your life, or invest in a humidifier. Carphones – you tend to talk louder on them as the mic is further from your mouth, because the signal may not be good, you are talking to someone else who is also on a mobile, and to counteract the ambient traffic noise.  Coughing – coughing is a complicated reflex action to clear the airway: inhalation, forceful exhalation against closed vocal cords and then a violent release. A large inhale almost fills the lungs, the glottis at the back of the throat closes and the stomach walls contract. The glottis opens suddenly, with an upward heave of the diaphragm, and air forced out by three different stomach muscles, at the rate of up to 50mph (80km)[1] across your cords. Not nice. So, if you have a tickle, don’t ‘hack’ as that will inflame your vocal cords even more. Simply swallow hard, preferably with some warm water. Excessive throat-clearing can be down to a dry throat, possibly because of an unrecognised allergy or because you’ve developed a habit of clearing your throat. Banging your very vulnerable vocal cords together is ‘violence against your voice’ causing damage to your delicate throat tissue, and possible development of nodules or polyps.[2]  Instead, retrain your brain to either swallow, lick your lips, or pause for a sip of room-temperature water in place of clearing your throat[3] which has the dual advantage of calming the tickle and keeping you hydrated.  Hoarseness – A rough, husky, croaky voice could be caused by the common cold, a laryngitis infection, chronic laryngitis (repetitive bouts of laryngitis, usually with a fever, and caused by regular voice misuse). It could be cancer, so go to a doctor if you’re still hoarse after two weeks. Continual ‘hoarse talk’ could lead to a swelling of the vocal folds. Again, a reminder that, although I know that fear is a big delayer, if something hurts, seek advice. You need to fix the underlying problems: not the cough itself but what’s causing the cough. [1] The American Lung Association: https://www.lung.org/blog/sneeze-versus-cough [2] A good explanatory leaflet from the British Voice Association can be downloaded here: http://www.britishvoiceassociation.org.uk/downloads/free-voice-care-literature/Difficult%20Vocal%20Problems.pdf [3] There are simple and complicated medical conditions (such as acid reflux or ‘GERD’, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) that may make you more prone to throat clearing, so check with your doctor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Year THREE of short daily episodes to improve the quality of your speaking voice.Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VOICE OVER VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2024.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartAudio recording script and show notes (c) 2021, 2022, 2023 Peter StewartPeter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (see contacts clink above) and presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with various formats. He has read tens of thousands of news bulletins and hosted 3,000+ podcast episodes.The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.The 'Peter Stewart' show is perhaps of great interest to those in broadcast voice overs, the broadcast voice, how to start a voice podcast, broadcasting voice training, your speaking voice, breathing technique, and conversational speaking. You may also find it useful if you are searching for information on voice coaching, voice training, voice overs, podcasting, broadcasting, presenting, being a voice over actor and newsreading, audio branding, public speaking, the recorded voice, vocal tips, performance, vocal health education, vocal technique and voice over training.Music credits: all Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.