Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dan The Chainsawman]

This is probably a really bad way to go about it but run down to Carefours and get one of those 8000 won pea shooters. Next time they start honking to loud, lay down that bad boy. The bare minimum it will liven up your class abit.


Rule to the wise only shoot kids if you want to loose job.

[EH]

Harpeau:
You have an excellent point. I'm glad you brought it up. Many voice specialists do discourage whispering in people who have lost their voice, and for good reason. People who lose their voice are often the ones who are straining it in the first place, and if they whisper they just strain their laryngeal muscles even more in an attempt to "whisper loudly."

I, however, don't prohibit my clients from whispering because I find they disregard such prohibitions anyway. I prefer to be more realistic, and try to teach them how to stay relaxed while whispering.

The thing is, whispering does NOT hurt the vocal cords/folds themselves, no matter how you do it. Whispering, by definition, does not make the vocal cords bang together. They are open, and air is flowing through them.

Ideally, the air is flowing very freely because they are open wide and none of the other laryngeal or pharyngeal muscles are tensing up, pretending they can close the airway in place of the vocal folds. When you have a good, relaxed whisper like this you cannot be heard very easily. It's very breathy.

In contrast, a tense (bad) whisper sounds almost strained/strangled. It is loud enough to be heard pretty easily. The reason for this is because your vocal cords are tensed up and--although not vibrating together as when speaking normally--they are still very close to each other so not much air can escape at any given time. The other neck muscles are also tense. In some people the posterior pharyngeal wall (the back of the inside of the neck) tenses up and tries to touch the tongue base, making artificial (and messed up) secondary vocal cords. It's a big problem, because this creates lingering bad habits that make it more likely for you to lose your voice again when you start talking. At the very least, it will probably result in a long-term feeling of "tired voice" where you have a sore throat and talking is uncomfortable.

I'm babbling on. You can tell this is a pet topic of mine, huh?


OiGirl:
You're making me more and more worried. Aspiration is very dangerous, and in fact, can kill you (usually via the pneumonia you get from it). Hopefully what you think of as aspiration is actually just penetration--the food/drink is touching your vocal cords but then getting effectively coughed out again rather than settling in your lungs. But you should still be careful, and maybe see a professional about this. Oh, and never, ever forget to brush and floss your teeth!!! If you aspirate a very small amount of fluid that's usually no big deal. But if you aspirate a small amount of fluid full of bacteria that have built up in an unbrushed mouth, then you're more likely to get sick. It also occurs to me that if you're doing a lot of coughing to get the food out of your lungs, then that's probably a big contributor towards your frequently lost voice. Coughing causes the vocal cords to bang together super hard, so they sustain a lot of damage. Of course, we all need to cough sometimes. But if there's a way to safely decrease the amount you cough then it may help your voice.

Take care,
-EH

[I_Am_Wrong]

I lost my voice here in my first month. It just started to feel really irritated and then I was coughing up blood in the morning and then I had lost my voice. Surprisingly, I've always seemed to go to good doctors with my co-teacher and this doctor told me I had a bad throat infection and gave similar advice to what the SLP gave.

Make sure you get all your vitamins and fluids. Eat lots of fruit.
Don't smoke.
Take and finish your prescription.
I like Herb Tonic Han Tea.

[Wrench]

[bijjy]

Thx for all the good advice in this thread. I've tried some of it. Finally found me some cough medicine and sore throat lozenges.. yeah, whatever I had came back and now I have a terrible cough. I'm trying to just sleep it off.

Being sick all the time is putting a really negative slant on my time in Korea..

[I_Am_Wrong]

oh yeah, throat lozenges are called "throat candy" here