Vocally Speaking - Can You Afford To Be Shy About Your Problem? Or Should You Deal With It Head On?

Written by Diana Yampolsky

In my previous blog entry "Vocal Insurance" - Do You Need An Agent?", I discussed a perplexing issue that I have encountered over the years, namely people that were plagued with vocal problems but who were at the same time hesitant to call me on the phone so that I could hear their voices in order to deduce if I could help them or not.

I finally posed a question about this on a discussion board and received an explanation from one person afflicted with a voice problem. He mentioned that he was very uncomfortable dealing with phones because of the current propensity of companies to use voice activated menus or having to deal with receptionists and operators in a manner that is very fatiguing for someone with a weak voice.

 All of what he was saying is 100% true and understandable. For the people with voice disorders it would be understandably difficult to deal with government agencies, voice activated menus and etc. As far as I'm concerned, not having a voice problem, the latter is just simply annoying for anyone, not to mention impersonal and a very time and effort consuming endeavour.

But please agree that it is different when you're actually looking for help to conquer your voice problem or any other problem for that matter. How otherwise do you expect to fix it if you're not facing it or approaching the matter straight on? From the point of view of a voice specialist, if I know that somebody with a voice disorder is going to be calling me, I'm not expecting a very "pleasant and angelic" voice on the other end. I'm kind of prepared that it will be none of those things and, depending of the severity of the opponent's sound of their voice, I would make a decision if it's in my jurisdiction to help that person. There is no need to be shy to call a professional who specializes in that very matter.

If, for example, the over weight person walks in a weight loss clinic, the staff there is kind of expecting to see an over sized person. So nobody naturally would act surprised or condemn them for the very sheer fact that they're in fact over weight. That would be kind of funny to think that way. Similarly, if the female requires let's say a gynaecological care, she probably wouldn't say that she would be shy to present her problem to a specialist. In that instance it would be kind of dumb, to put it mildly.

Yes, I understand that with the respect of a voice disorder, it also takes a lot of effort and energy and because of that it actually might set off the problem back to some degree. But that is the choice that one should make. "Would I rather feel more comfortable, less tired, but angry and alone or I would put my best effort forward and try to do something about it."

Hard? Yes. Can you do it and will you be willing to do it or will you rather try to learn to live with your problem? It's a question for you to answer.