Vocal hygiene is frequently what therapists consider the first step of any voice therapy they begin. Do their patients or students know what to do to protect their voices or reduce the amount of damage they do to it? Do their clients know what to do to keep from abusing or misusing their voices in the first place?
Most voice therapy, believe it or not, is done by the patient outside of the therapy room. Types of programs are usually tailored to the specific needs of the patient. A cheerleader's therapy program will be much different from that of an eight-year old boy.
Most programs focus on key fundamentals necessary to make any program successful. This involves identifying the abusive behaviors one uses by monitoring themselves at home, school or work and making note of them daily for a week or two and then consciously practicing more appropriate behaviors daily for weeks.
Let me illustrate this better with an example. I once worked with a person who was never told as a child it was not appropriate to scream. They screamed for and about everything. They stayed out partying their freshmen year of college, drinking and dancing in smoke filled bars. They sang in a church choir, also, usually the morning after they had been out partying all night. They worked at the print shop for the local university and often spoke to friends standing next to the press while it ran. They were an activist; always protesting some injustice they felt concerned enough to stand up for. Little did it occur to this person who also had allergies that they always seemed to lose their voice when they had a cold or during allergy season. They had not paid attention to their voice at all until their doctor referred them to an ear, nose and throat doctor, or otolaryngologist, for a full voice evaluation. They were diagnosed with vocal nodules. They had the kind that had turned white and hard. This meant they had had them a long time and had been damaged repeatedly. Their doctor talked to them about having them surgically removed. Even after surgery more work was needed. They had to learn to reuse their voice in a non-harmful way.
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