Voice therapy uses vocal cord exercises to prevent or treat voice disorders like hoarseness and laryngitis. Speech-language pathologists, respiratory therapists and voice coaches provide voice therapy. Transgender voice therapy helps transgender individuals control their pitch to achieve higher or lower voices.
Voice therapy helps people with voice disorders change vocal behaviors and heal their vocal cords. The therapy helps your voice sound stronger and more like it did before the voice disorder.
Voice therapy can also help prevent a voice disorder. And people who are transgender may benefit from a type of voice therapy called gender-affirming voice therapy.
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Voice disorders affect your voice box (larynx), and can cause a consistent or inconsistent change in your voice. The larynx is the area of your throat that contains your vocal cords. It also has the muscles you need to talk, breathe and swallow.
Voice disorders can change the quality, pitch or loudness of your voice. Your voice may sound strained, husky or weak. Sometimes, your voice becomes a whisper or disappears altogether.
When you make sounds, air moves through your lungs and into your windpipe (trachea) and voice box. Inside of your larynx are two vocal cords (also called vocal folds). These flexible muscles vibrate as air passes through them. The vibrations produce the sound waves that are your voice.
Typically, your vocal cords vibrate together to produce a clear sound. Vocal disorders occur when your vocal cords vibrate out of synch or don’t fully open or close.
Pitch refers to how high or low your voice is. The size and the length (tension) of your vocal folds affect pitch.
Close to 18 million Americans have problems with their voice, but many don’t seek treatment. Voice therapy helps children and adults. Your healthcare provider may recommend voice therapy if you have a voice disorder, such as:
Transgender individuals can benefit from voice therapy before, after or in place of voice feminization surgery or voice masculinization surgery. These procedures change the length, size or tension of vocal cords. These changes make the pitch of your voice sound higher or lower.
Gender-affirming voice therapy can help you adjust the pitch and intonation of your voice to sound more feminine or masculine and meet specific voice goals.
If you’re having voice problems, you may first see a laryngologist. This medical doctor treats conditions that affect the voice box. When needed, they perform surgeries on the larynx.
Depending on the problem, a laryngologist may refer you to a voice therapist. Different specialists can provide voice therapy, including:
A voice therapist guides you through voice therapy exercises to:
During voice therapy, your healthcare provider teaches you exercises that improve vocal function. The exercises may vary depending on the cause of your vocal problem. They may include:
People who are transgender may have voice therapy along with or instead of voice feminization or voice masculinization surgery.
A voice therapist shows you how to create healthier and more efficient vibration of your vocal folds, while working to increase pitch and change resonance. Voice therapy can also help with postsurgical recovery for those who choose to have surgery of their voice box. Voice feminization surgery can help change the pitch of your voice by altering the length and mass of your vocal cords.
Regardless of whether you undergo surgery, transgender voice therapy helps you learn to adjust:
As a preventive measure, voice therapy can help you learn healthy ways to use your vocal cords. Therapy helps prevent problems like hoarseness, laryngitis and lesions that commonly affect singers and people who speak a lot in their jobs. Voice therapy can also help heal vocal cord swelling and small vocal cord lesions by promoting better vocal cord vibration. It’s also used to help vocal cords heal after surgery. There aren’t any downsides or risks to participating in voice therapy.
The extent and duration of voice therapy depend on the underlying problem. Most people need voice therapy once or twice a week for several months. For success, it’s important to follow your voice therapist’s instructions and perform vocal exercises at home. To keep your vocal cords healthy, you can continue these exercises after voice therapy sessions end.
Good vocal hygiene can protect your voice. You can:
Speech therapy addresses a range of problems, not just those that affect vocal cords. Voice problems may occur along with speech problems. Types of speech problems include:
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Voice therapy can help you recover your voice if you have a voice disorder or a vocal cord procedure. A voice therapist teaches you exercises that strengthen or heal your vocal cords. These exercises help you regain strength in your voice. As a preventive measure, voice therapy may keep your vocal cords healthy. Gender-affirming voice therapy helps people learn to achieve a lower or higher pitch, as well.
Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 02/02/2022.
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Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy