Voices Lost and Found

Abstract

We tend to take our voices for granted. Those of us who sing know that the voice is one of the most powerful instruments, and it is all housed completely within the human body. As singers we express musical gestures and text through our voices. But we also reveal a unique profile of sounds, feelings, and emotions unlike any other person. Our voices are our identities.Those who have struggled with vocal injury, even temporarily, know the pain of that loss. Thankfully, there are a wealth of vocal experts, doctors, and speech voice pathologists to help singers through physical challenges. But there is a class of vocal loss that isn’t at the structural level. The voices themselves are fine: no damage to the folds, no overt trauma to the mechanism. Instead, the challenges result from errors in the complex signaling of the brain to the vocal instrument. In these cases, a doctor cannot just look through a scope to diagnose the issue. The pathways are unseen, and for that reason, the approach must be customized through trial and error. It is only through specialized motor practice and experience that real change can occur. This paper explores three very personal stories of voices that were lost, and then found, through retraining and neuroplasticity.