Voice therapy for professional voice users
For singers, teachers, coaches, speakers and others whose work depends on their voice.
Assessment that looks at your speaking and singing voice demands
Singing voice therapy for vocal strain and fatigue
Strategies for teaching, presenting and performing schedules
Provided by a speech-language pathologist who is also a professional singer
Coordination with your ENT, physician or voice teacher
When your voice is your work
Teachers, singers, actors, coaches, clergy, lawyers, broadcasters and customer-service staff all place heavy demands on their voices. Long hours of talking or singing, loud rooms and tight schedules make voice problems more likely, and a voice problem can directly affect your ability to work.
Therapy starts with an assessment of how you use your voice in a typical week: how much, how loudly, in what spaces and with how much rest. From there, therapy focuses on producing your voice with less strain and on planning your voice use around the demands of your job or performance schedule.
Singing voice therapy
Singing voice therapy is voice therapy that focuses on the singing voice. It is intended for singers with a voice problem, and is different from singing lessons. With your consent, therapy can be coordinated with your voice teacher and your ENT.
Goals we may work toward
- Getting through a teaching day, shift or set with less vocal fatigue
- Speaking and singing with less strain
- Warm-up and cool-down routines that suit your schedule
- A plan for periods of heavy voice use
- A plan for returning to voice use after illness or a diagnosed injury
Approaches that may be used
- Semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises
- Resonant voice work for speaking and projection
- Laryngeal manual therapy
- Breath coordination for speech and singing
- Planning voice use and voice rest
- Amplification and classroom or stage set-up advice
More voice therapy services
Voice therapy is offered in person in Guelph and online across Ontario, for ages 10 and up.
