Published on April 07, 2025

Get Your Voice Back

Kaylie Beach, MA, CCC-SLP with speech therapy patient

"Everyone deserves a voice - to be able to sound like ourselves, feel like ourselves, communicate our opinions. Our voices are how we socialize and how we as humans connect with one another." – Kaylie Beach, MA, CCC-SLPVoice therapy can help people who suffer from vocal disorders improve or regain the quality, strength, and function of their voice. Voice therapy can help people who suffer from:

Functional Voice Disorders

Voice disorders caused by speaking often and loudly, also known as vocal abuse.

Psychogenic Voice Disorders

Voice disorders that lead to hoarse, cracked voice or complete silence. Most commonly these disorders occur after a traumatic event or persistent stress. These disorders can also be caused by a mental illness such as depression.

Progressive Voice Disorders

Voice disorders caused by a chronic condition, such as Parkinson’s Disease, which affect how you use your voice.

What is Voice Therapy

The goal of voice therapy is to help you improve the quality, strength, and function of your voice so that you can understand and communicate with your peers. When you meet with a speech therapist, they will go through strategies that teach you how to use your vocal cords more effectively to reduce vocal strain. Your treatment plan can include breathing, relaxation, movement or posture, or mouth and jaw exercises based on what is most suitable for your condition.

Do I Need Voice Therapy?

 Voice disorders can affect any person at any age. Signs and symptoms of a voice disorder include:

  • Rough vocal quality
  • Breathy vocal quality
  • Strained vocal quality
  • Strangled vocal quality
  • Abnormal pitch
  • Abnormal loudness/volume
  • Abnormal resonance
  • Aphonia, or loss of voice
  • Phonation breaks
  • Asthenia, or weak voice
  • Gurgly or wet-sounding voice
  • Shrill voice
  • Tremorous or shaky voice
  • Increased vocal effort associated with speaking
  • Decreased vocal endurance or onset of fatigue with prolonged voice use
  • Variable vocal quality throughout the day or during speaking
  • Running out of breath quickly
  • Frequent coughing or throat clearing
  • Excessive throat or laryngeal tension, pain, or tenderness

If you notice symptoms of a voice disorder, or are concerned about the quality of your voice, talk to your primary care provider and get a referral to see a speech therapist.

Sources: Kaylie Beach, MA, CCC-SLP, National Library of Medicine, Duke Health, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association