Ep 94 How to Protect Your Voice April 3 16 publicwords.com

Why are so many presidential candidates hoarse? And what can they do about it?

Speaking the show about effective speaking in public, to the media, at work and in life. Speaking with TJ Walker.

This topic is brought up by my colleague Nick Walker. Dr. Nick Walker over at the website publicwords.com I'd urge you to check out his thoughts. But I wanted to share with you my tips, suggestions on how to preserve your voice. You might not be running for president, but if you're any sort of executive, professional, author, expert, there may be times when you do wear your voice out. And nothing is worse if you're a professional than not being able to speak. It can put you out of business. Now, presidential candidates often lose their voice because they're giving five, six, seven, sometimes ten speeches a day. They're not getting enough sleep. In the old days they were in smoke filled rooms. That's not quite the issue anymore. They're on and off airplanes all day long, so the air is drier and they're projecting their voice because in order to show emotion or passion, they're speaking louder. Some of the stops, if it's to a small group, they might not use a microphone. So they are projecting. All of those things take a toll on a candidate's voice. But nothing is worse than seeing a candidate three days before the election. And hardly any sounds come out or it's so hoarse it's painful to listen to. So first of all, what are the causes when you're talking louder than normal and projecting? You're banging your vocal cords together, that causes strain. You're pushing more air over your vocal cords, that dries out your vocal cords and in some situations that just makes you go hoarse. Now there are things that exacerbate situation. If you have a cold and you're taking cold medicine, the antihistamines can dry out your voice. I've only lost my voice once in my life and it was this confluence of events where any one thing wouldn't have done it, but putting them all together did. I had a week where I was doing six different trainings and day long trainings plus speeches, you know, every day for six weeks or excuse me, for six days. I was traveling a lot, so I was on planes with dry, a lot of dry air and I had a cold and had taken some antihistamines to dry up the cold. Put it all together and it was just, it just turned my vocal cords into dust. I'd never had this problem and I was over 40 at the time, so I'd gone more than 40 years in my life without ever losing my voice. But it caused me to reassess and re examine what I'm doing because if I don't have my voice, I'm out of business. You may not view things in quite those stark terms, but it is a big, big issue. So when you're talking too much, not getting enough sleep in dry air, certainly around smoke, if you're projecting more, speaking louder than normal, all of those things can put a much greater strain on your voice. I'm going to give you some very specific tips on how to preserve and protect your voice in just a moment.

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For starters, you need to keep your vocal cords, well, lubricated. If you dry them out, that's when things start cracking and it feels as though they are turning to dust. So you need to drink a lot of water. If you're speaking more than normal, you need to drink more water than usual so you're not seeing it. But when I'm taping this program I have and for those of you listening on the audio podcast, I'm now holding up a big glass of water. I drink tons of water anytime I am creating podcasts and producing videos, I typically I'm taping all. I tape eight shows a week that way. I've done a week's worth plus one extra to bank for when I have to be out of the country and can't do anything for a couple of weeks. So I'm drinking much more water than usual because I don't want to because I'm speaking more than usual and I don't want to dry out my throat. Now I do have ice in this cup. Typically I would recommend just drink room temperature water because you can drink more water. That way you can keep your vocal cords more lubricated and for some people the ice can sort of tense up their muscles. Now I'm drinking with a lot of ice because I am in my TV studio with bright lights and frankly you can get warm. So I don't want to overheat for the several hours when I'm doing eight shows. Now there have been days when I've done more than a hundred how to videos which would really dry up most people's voices, but by drinking lots of water, it helps tremendously. The next big thing you need to think about when protecting your voice is don't yell. Yelling beyond annoying family and friends is incredibly bad for your vocal cords. Now, you might not yell at family and friends or colleagues, but then you go to the big game, football game, baseball game, basketball game, and you're yelling and screaming, and everyone in the crowd is yelling, so you're not aware of it. Don't do it. Chant, wave a flag, shake your hand, do whatever, but just don't yell. It causes tremendous strain on your voice. So don't yell. The problem a lot of politicians have is they're not intentionally yelling, but they're speaking louder than normal. Even a little bit. That can be a big strain on your voice. So the thing is, use a microphone. Now, this is going to sound silly to some of you, but for many years after I lost my voice that one time, I did massive research on everything that could help a voice and preserve a voice. And I got to the point where when I was doing a workshop or seminar, even with only one or two other people in the room, I would use a wireless microphone and a speaker so that I never had to project my voice. Now, you could say, well, teacher, that's overkill. That might look silly. No one ever commented on it or thought it was weird or odd or certainly said that. Here's the thing. If you're doing a workshop or a seminar, you're speaking to 10 people in a room, and the room is, let's say, 30ft by 40ft, you don't need a microphone for people to hear you. But if you're talking to a dozen people and a couple of them are 20ft away, you're going to be projecting. You're going to be speaking louder than normal. And when that happens again, you're banging your vocal cords together, you're pushing a lot more air over your vocal cords, and you're drawing them out. Why would you want to do that? So that's why to this day, I do recommend people always use a microphone, preferably a wireless microphone. Teachers, there's no way in the world I would be a public school teacher and not use a wireless microphone. Again, you can used to be able. You could get them for three or four hundred bucks. I'm sure these days, with advances in technology, you could probably get what you need for less than 100 bucks and maybe even use your cell phone as your speaker to amplify it. But there's simply no need to use your energy. When you can use the energy of electricity and electronics. I mean, do you really want to walk everywhere when you could use a car, for example, or a train or a subway? It's the same concept. So try not to speak loudly. Now, there are other situations where this happens. Talking on a plane can be a problem because you don't realize it that the sound is so loud, you're talking over it. Plus air is dry on the plane. That can be a problem. So if you're a candidate and up and down going to five campaign stops in a day, try not to talk on the plane. Another problem for people can be you're in your car and your music is loud and you're singing without realizing it. Unless you are really a well properly trained singer, you're going to put strain on your voice. That is a big problem. So don't be singing out loud. If you're all concerned about upcoming speeches, presentations, talks, and the quality of your voice, I don't want to sound like a killjoy and say, you can never sing again. Or it's the no, I'm not saying that. But if you do have a stretch on your calendar schedule where you're speaking a lot, training, talking, giving, presentations, and traveling, try not to sing. In fact, talking less is better. It takes energy to talk. You are using your vocal cords. One of the first things you'll see in any profile of some famous singer or celebrity who's had voice problems is the interviewer will often say, and they couldn't speak to me. They wrote notes. They're saying they're not speaking for the day. That is unfortunately the best solution if you actually have lost your voice. But you don't have to wait until that point. If you feel your voice getting even the slightest bit tired, your vocal cords just a little bit uncomfortable, just don't talk unless it's necessary. Switch to email. Listen to other people, go to a movie. Try to talk less. Now, as I am getting older and the day of this taping, I am a little over 53. Here's what I found that if I feel my voice is tired during a day of training, it's a sign to me that I'm talking too much. I need to be listening more. So that's the reason I don't use a wireless microphone now is to me, I don't want the ability to speak on and on and on without tiring my voice out. Because to me, it's sort of a nice thing if I'm feeling a slightest little bit of tinge in my voice. It means I'm talking too much and I need to bring out more from my audience. Now that's the way I do training. It's very engaged. There may be times when you have to do a training or a seminar and it really is about transferring large amounts of data. And the requirement is for you to actually speak most of the time. So you can't get away with pulling on the audience. You're going to have to speak. My recommendation, get plenty of sleep. It takes physical energy to speak more. Drink lots of water. If you prefer tea, I don't have a problem with that. All things being equal, you may be a little better off without caffeine or milk. And my friends at the American Dairy Council get, get upset with me for saying this, but for some people, drinking any dairy products can create extra mucus and just cause some irritation with their throat. Most people, most of the time, you're much better off with lukewarm water. If it's boiling water and really hot tea, maybe it scald you. If it's frozen, freezing water, it can force your vocal cords to contract. But the main thing is have liquids. I would not advise most carbonated beverages because that can cause other problems with burping and belching. But the main thing is you want lubrication on your vocal cords. You want to avoid yelling. And if you do actually lose your voice, don't whisper. It's counterintuitive, but there's something about whispering that actually causes more stress for your vocal cords. So just don't talk at all. If you've ever lost your voice, just don't say anything for about three days. Believe me, the world can get along without you talking for a few days. The world has gotten along perfectly fine without me talking for a couple of days. Even though I am coming to you every day with this podcast, I'm not talking every day. So those are the basic tips to preserve and protect your voice. As a speaker, you don't have to have a beautiful voice. You don't have to have a voice that the Toyota company is going to want you to do the commercials for. But you do need the full range of your voice and you need to be comfortable using your voice. You don't have that. You're not going to be able to communicate. I'm TJ Walker. As always, may all of your presentations in life be a huge success.

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