How can you tell if someone is successful in a social life?

Generally, advanced educations, high level of foreign language proficiency, and various experiences makes you an outstanding person.

However, a great deal of evidence addresses that an attractive voice can be more important than above for one to have a successful social life. Sadly, unattractive voice or inarticulate speeches could have a negative impact on the social life. Albert Mehrabian, an American social psychologist, states that a good speaking voice like a pleasing melody decides whether a speech is effective or not because tone of voice accounts for 38 percent when delivering messages. In order to make your voice good, you can practice an appropriate breathing method to articulate words properly.

What would be the best method to prevent vocal disorders and to maintain a healthy voice condition all the time? The easiest way is to drink at least 2 liters of water to maintain the vocal fold to not drying out. Vocal fold vibrates 150 ~ 250 times per second in average, so it is important to keep the vocal fold tube moisturized.

Furthermore, Drinking too much alcohol or caffeinated drinks and heavy smoking can make the vocal fold dry. Overeating and greasy food are also not recommended. People usually think that professional singers protect their throats taking raw eggs, but it is not true. It could actually disturb the vocal membrane not making it lubricative. And candies for medical purpose may look like they could relief symptoms, but it could rather make the vocal fold more dry and sticky.

Voice tremor is a common symptom of a voice disorder patient. Spasmodic Dysphonia is caused by excessive tension of muscles of the larynx. Individuals with Spasmodic Dysphonia have breaking voices and face difficulty to continue conversation. It is absolutely recommended to see a doctor for the following symptoms: rough voice, throat irritation, frequent clearing throat, and hoarse voice.

The best treatment for Spasmodic Dysphonia is Botox injection, which involves injecting small amounts of Botox in several muscles, and makes the abnormal voice in larynx to normal. Thus, it induces the normalization of the feedback reflection of the brain. This treatment is a temporary treatment which improves the voice for a period of 3-6 months after the voice symptoms gradually return. It requires continual injection to maintain a good speaking voice.

By Dr. Hyung-Tae Kim, MD. Ph.D, Director of Yeson Voice Center

Medicine