Optimising Voice Quality through Nasal Hydration. What are the Implications for the Voice Community?

Vocal folds vibrate at extremely high frequencies—men’s fundamental frequency (F0) is around 125 Hz, while women’s F0 is around 250 Hz, which corresponds to 7,500 revolutions per minute (RPM) and 15,000 RPM, respectively. Such RPM greatly exceed, for example, the centrifuge of a washing machine spinning at 1400 RPM, or a car engine in acceleration, going between 3500 and 4000 RPM. That is the reason for which high-speed vibration causes great friction on the tissues of the vocal folds. If the mucosal layers are not in optimal condition, this friction can result in phonotraumas and vocal pathologies.

Thereby, the vocal folds need a high degree of humidity to be able to vibrate at their normal high frequency. Hydration makes the tissue more flexible and more turgid. The moisture of the tissue is one of the first factors that is lost when there is a pathology or when an unusual overload is suffered. Furthermore, hydration is one of the most effective measures to recovering function in emergency situations. For instance, voice professionals often deal with stress, anxiety, fatigue, and changes of temperature and environment like the dryness of the performing spaces, due to factors like air conditioning or heating. All these factors affect the voice and can make the performer activity more difficult.

While drinking water is excellent for hydrating the entire body, it hydrates the vocal folds slowly. The ideal and fastest way to moisturize the vocal folds is directly through the respiratory system.

Researchers have proposed the use of nebulizers to hydrate the vocal folds superficially and boost vocal function (Vermeulen et al. 2021). In addition, we proposed another superficial hydration: nasal hydration through a damp gauze (Borragán et al., 2021) among other techniques, and we observe hydration effectivity.

🏷️ Price £20 (UK VAT inclusive)
🎥 Recording automatically sent to all who book (even if you cannot attend live)
▶️ Rewatch as many times as you like
📜 Certificate of attendance available