This is a tough time of year for your voice. So many opportunities to be heard, so much throat scratchiness inviting silence instead. Luckily, you don’t have to choose between sounding like you’re churning gravel in your throat or dialing your volume down to zero until spring. Once you know why your voice gets raspy, you can take steps to preserve your usual dulcet tones.

What’s Going On?

The weather is partly responsible. There’s frigid dry air outside and temperature-controlled dry air inside, everywhere. Even the flintiest New England Yankee has finally turned on the heat. Nasal passages and throats quickly feel like dust, then sandpaper. At the same time, the northern hemisphere is well into cold & flu season. COVID has taught the general public to be better about coughing and sneezing hygiene, but people let down their guard or a sneeze arrives too quickly to cover. If you live with others, especially elementary school or college students, one cold can circulate within the household for weeks on end.

Winter holidays bring their own distinct set of vocal hazards. Festive drinks featuring alcohol, caffeine, or both dry the throat in ways that no amount of whipped cream can counter. I should know; I’ve tried! ‘Tis also the season for belting out favorite carols, fa-la-la-LA-la-la-la-LA, usually without warming up first. Though no one cares if you’re off key, you’ll feel the difference if you go in cold.

Additionally, the months just before and after the turn of the year are prime time for annual conventions, Board meetings, and corporate retreats. Many folks are talking to more people in larger rooms for more hours per day and for more days in a row than they usually do. Sometimes they’re provided with amplification, sometimes they are the amplification. An uptick in activity puts additional demands on the body, regardless of what you’re doing.

Throw in stress and exhaustion on top of – or caused by – any combination of the above and you have a perfect recipe for a strained voice, if not outright laryngitis.

Make Your Voice Carry

There’s no one size fits all solution for a complicated problem. The best approach is to experiment to find out what works best for your voice and your speaking conditions.

Environmental factors

• Prevention is key. Wear a mask in crowded indoor spaces to avoid easily-transmissible colds. As a bonus, wearing a clean mask each day will warm your breath a bit, adding a touch of humidity that will benefit your throat and nostrils.
• Consider a humidifier at home or a personal unit for your desk in the office. If you can control the moisture in your immediate vicinity, you’ll be able to find a comfortable balance between Saharan dryness and jungle humidity.

Physical factors

• Make sure you’re drinking enough water or non-caffeinated/non-alcoholic beverages throughout the day, every day. Drinking a gallon of water in the lead-up to a big speech won’t adequately address weeks of being insufficiently hydrated.
• Avoid spicy or highly acidic foods, especially if you’re prone to acid reflux. Spiciness can have a drying effect in your mouth and throat, and acid reflux isn’t healthy in any circumstance. If your larynx is abraded by reflux, any other irritant will feel significantly worse.
• Also avoid consuming products with menthol, such as throat lozenges. Menthol can further irritate already inflamed mouth and throat tissues.
• Use a saline rinse or neti pot regularly. You’ll clear gunk out from your nasal passages, which in turn reduces the post-nasal drip that can irritate your throat. If you don’t have a stuffy nose, you won’t breathe through your mouth. That’s a good thing, because mouth breathing dries your throat faster.
• Stay warm. Wear a scarf and hat, button your coat. New Englanders definitely make a sport of defying winter temperatures – we drink iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts year-round – but no one is actually impressed if you lose your voice. Dress warmly before you start speaking (or singing!). Have a top layer, such as a coat, cardigan, or wrap, that you can easily take off before heading to the stage.
• If you do experience vocal strain, take care right away. Your vocal cords are muscles; treat them accordingly. We’re big fans of Throat Coat tea, but whether you prefer peppermint tea, decaf with lemon and honey, or something else, rest your voice and soothe your throat. Rest, as in, lie down and do fewer activities. Your body needs to heal, which a full schedule makes harder.

Performance factors

• If you know that you’ll be doing more public speaking (or singing!) than usual, get your voice ready before you begin. Musical scales, tongue twisters, and humming/trilling your lips will all help limber up your throat muscles. Athletes stretch before they perform. Singers warm up their voices. Speakers need to do likewise.
• Stretch your body, too. Roll your shoulders forward, up, and back. Breathe deeply enough to expand your ribs and raise your chest. Stand tall, as if being pulled up by a string attached to the crown of your head. Stand comfortably, without locking your knees or gripping the podium or table in front of you with white knuckles. Tight muscles restrict blood flow and reduce oxygen, neither of which aids a strong speaking voice.
• Learn how to project your voice. It’s not the same as shouting. In fact, shouting will wreck your voice, whereas proper projection technique extends your speaking capacity because you can do so with relative ease. Tighten and release your diaphragm, lift your chin, open your mouth when you speak. Even a raspy voice will carry farther if you give it a clear path.

Technical factors

• If you can, check out the space where you’ll be speaking (or singing!) ahead of time. Practice moving through the space and using the AV equipment, if relevant. Familiarity with the space will increase your confidence just before speaking, helping to reduce or avoid cotton-mouth dryness from adrenaline.

How About You?

Do you have more public speaking (or singing!) occasions at this time of year? Are those opportunities linked to professional obligations or holiday celebrations, or both?

How do you take care of your voice and overall health in this busy and germy season? Do you have a favorite warm-up technique? A beverage you swear by and recommend to friends? A scarf always wrapped around your neck?

What’s your favorite holiday song to listen to? To sing? Do you prefer the David Bowie & Bing Crosby or the Bad Religion version of “Little Drummer Boy”? Our teenager has recently inflicted – I mean, introduced – us to Straight No Chaser’s “12 Days of Christmas Medley.” It’s very clever, once you accept that it’s a complete mishmash of Christmas lyrics, with bonus melody from Toto’s “Africa.” “The Christmas Can-Can” by the same group is ridiculous and utterly delightful!

Tell us about it in the comments, but no purposely inflicting Whamageddon on anyone! We’re not playing Battle Royale mode here.

Check Out Our YouTube Channel

The Rourke Training – Ongoing Mastery YouTube channel has a bit of something for everyone. Go there to get Kirsten’s take on examples of public speaking, as well as reflections on her entrepreneurial journey. The channel is also the home of the podcast Kirsten and Kellie produced for 5 years, Ongoing Mastery: Presenting & Speaking, which covers everything connected to continually improving your craft of being a public speaker, from interviews and mini-coaching sessions with guests to conversations between Kirsten and Kellie.

Come join us. Cheers, Kellie