The voice and breathing

It is the airstream from our breath that makes our vocal cords vibrate and thereby create sound. If our breathing is superficial and quick, we may experience both unwanted muscle tension in our throat and an air column that’s too weak to produce a free voice.

Our vocal cords are two tissue folds located between the upper and lower airways in the larynx. The vocal cords are greyish white because they have so few blood vessels. Between the vocal cords is a narrow opening called the rima glottidis. As our vocal cords are tight, they vibrate when the airstream passes through the glottis and make sounds. The vocal cords and the rima glottidis are called the glottis.

The tighter our vocal cords are, the faster they vibrate, and the higher the pitch of the tone they produce. When we create deeper sounds, the glottis is expanded, and it narrows when we create high-pitched sounds. The strength of our voice depends on the speed and amount of air that passes through the rima glottidis. The larger the airflow, the more powerful the voice. The way we breathe and use our air is therefore essential to the strength and quality of our voice.

The quality of your voice is also somewhat dependent on the shape of your oral cavity, throat, nasal cavity and sinuses, where resonance is created, as well any tension in your upper torso. Unfortunately, many suffer from unwanted muscle tension in their upper torso due to everyday stress, and this can impact your voice in the form of hoarseness, vocal nodules, vocal fatigue or a feeling of tightness in your throat.

The lengths of vocal cords vary from person to person, and they’re shorter in young children, who therefore have lighter voices. Women also have shorter vocal chords than men. Men’s are up to 25mm, and women’s are up to 15mm. When boys hit puberty, their larynx grows bigger and their vocal cords thicken and lengthen. This leads to slower vibrations. Their voice therefore gradually gets deeper, and they may struggle to control their voice in the transition period.

When you breathe normally, the rima glottidis is open, unless you suffer from EILO (exercise-induced laryngeal obstruction) or VCD (vocal cord dysfunction). It is the speech centre in our cerebral cortex that controls the musculature in the larynx, which creates voice. Vocalisation happens in collaboration with the lips, soft palate and tongue. Additionally, tension in the jaw can cause tension in the throat and an unfree voice. It may therefore be necessary to practise relaxing the root of the tongue and the joint of the jaw in order to free up your voice. With articulation challenges, it may also be necessary to strengthen the musculature in the tongue.

Tension in the joint of the jaw is something I often see in clients who come to me with stress-related ailments. I believe this is largely due to how we often “bite back” our emotions, like sadness and anger. We clench our teeth instead of actually crying or screaming for a few seconds or minutes. If we do this repeatedly and over time, the tension may stick. Some experience face or jaw pain, some experience tension headaches and migraines, while others experience tightness of the throat as a direct result of these tensions. At the same time, jaw tension may affect the resonance space in the oral cavity, and thereby the timbre of your voice.

If few are aware they may have tension in the jaw, even fewer know they may have tension in the root of their tongue! And where is the root of the tongue? It’s right beneath your chin, in the throat, and can be the cause of feelings of tension or pain in this area or the throat. Many of my clients are surprised by how important it is to relax tension in this area in combination with liberating the breath. It is important both to avoid pain in the area and to achieve a freely resounding voice.

Although the thickness of the vocal cords varies from individual to individual, they’re always relatively thin and fragile. They’re therefore very sensitive to stress and muscle tension. It’s not just tension in the throat that can lead to tight vocal cords, but also tension in all the surrounding musculature, like the neck, chest, upper back, jaw, root of the tongue and shoulders. If you have a superficial breathing pattern where you only move the chest and collarbones, this will create tensions that easily branch out and become tension in the throat and vocal cords. It doesn’t take much tension in this delicate organ for it to affect your voice. At the same time, posture is crucial to a free breath and a free voice. It’s very important not to hunch the back while exhaling, or while vocalising, as this will hinder an optimal breathing pattern and create unnecessary muscle tension.

A clear example of how muscular tension can manifest in the voice is how nervousness in many leads to quivering voice, stuttering, or a voice that’s high and reedy. This is purely because the breathing pattern becomes superficial and quick, and we can’t control the airflow passing through the rima glottidis.

At the same time, the voice mirrors the soul, and it is hard – if not impossible – to hide your emotions from your voice. The better we know a person, the more easily we will be able to tell if something is bothering them through their voice. Being honest with your emotions and expressing them is therefore also very important to the quality of your voice. Supressed emotions stick in the body in the form of tension and pain, and will affect the voice negatively. I therefore often use the voice through roaring, screaming or laughing to release supressed emotions.

• Learn deep and diaphragmatic breathing
• Learn and practise techniques with the pyramidalis muscle (the “clenching muscle”)
• Relax the jaw and root of the tongue
• Learn optimal posture
• Learn exercises that connect the breath and the voice.

Everyone who comes to me with voice problems first has to have two or three consultation sessions just for breathing technique – either at the clinic, online or through an online course. This is to make sure their breathing pattern is deep and diaphragmatic, and to avoid unnecessary muscle tensions in the upper part of the torso.

Then we work on techniques that I’ve studied for years in London and Milan, where we strengthen the pyramidalis muscle, a tiny triangular muscle right above the pubic bone, which is essential to practising correct vocalisation when speaking or singing. When your breathing is deep and calm, and you have this muscle under control, your voice will be deeper, more powerful, more controlled and more fluid. It will become more authentic – the way it’s meant to be. Your voice is as unique as your fingerprint.

Many also choose to join a breathing choir. Through weekly instruction, many find that they are motivated even more, and see good effects from the exercises and by practising regularly.

Stammering is a speech flow problem. So-called “blocks” happen, often on specific letters, where your speech gets “stuck”. You may repeat sounds, syllables or words; or you may experience jaw twitches, excessive blinking or involuntary movements in parts of your body. The movements are often an attempt to stop the stammering, but they may make it even harder to get your words out. This is because the movements can increase your feeling of being different.

Some people who stammer may try to avoid certain words that they feel are challenging, and may rearrange the sentences they want to say.

The causes of stammers are still unknown, but 80% of children who stammer grow out of it. Stammering often happens in the beginning of a sentence and on the first syllable of a word. Children who stammer have a higher risk of developing problems with reading or writing when they start school. It’s therefore important to seek help early in order to avoid psychological or social challenges.

The seriousness of stammering varies greatly from person to person. Some stammer a lot and often, while others stammer just a little and aren’t particularly affected by it in their everyday life. Stammering can also vary from day to day and from situation to situation. Some handle it fine without any psychological challenges, while others develop anxieties around speaking.

More boys stammer than girls, and more girls grow out of stammering than boys. Twice as many boys stammer as girls, while five times as many men stammer as women. (Source: NHI.no)

Many negative experiences with speaking can contribute to long-term stammering. Additionally, some stammer more in stressful situations, like on phone calls or when speaking with someone in a role of authority.

See what Oddvar, who had a severe stammer when I first met him two years ago, said after visiting the doctor recently:

“When I went for my yearly check-up at the hospital and I discovered that I didn’t experience more than one or two blocks during the conversation with the doctor, it proved to me that the breathing technique works.”

– Oddvar Munro-Jenssen

The most important thing to me, when I work with people who stammer, is to achieve a free, even and deep breathing pattern. Then, we start working on techniques that “place” the voice on the breath.

Calm breathing, focusing on long exhales, will also balance the autonomous nervous system and avoid blocks that occur as a result of nervousness. With time, we can start replacing the long exhalations with speech (we speak while exhaling) and activation of the inner and deep abdominal muscles. Slow breathing will also significantly help those who suffer from pressured speech, as slow breathing leads to more controlled and calm speech. In these cases, it’s also important to work on regular breaks where we consciously use our breathing.

Strengthening your voice also strengthens your bearing around other people.

Voice quality, endurance and strength of voice can largely be improved by breathing and voice techniques. By using specific techniques, relaxation and deep breathing, you have a great chance of reaching your authentic voice and being more comfortable in your speech. Your voice is as unique as a fingerprint, and it says a lot about you and affects how you’re perceived by others.