Emma Walker - Head of Speech Therapy Department
Mr Andrew Grace - ENT Surgeon,
Professor David Howard - Professor of Music Technology and Electronics at York University

Another warm welcome awaited me in York where I spent two days absorbed in the speech therapy department. Emma Walker and her team introduced me to their skills in the study and treatment of the voice.

My first introduction was to a past patient of the department, a singer, who had recovered her voice after a stressful period of loss. Respect is easily afforded to musicians who play a visible instrument. Singers whose instrument is hidden from view often find others are less than respectful of the procedures required to maintain and protect a singing voice - warming up for a performance, resting when necessary, not overstraining the voice in volume or over use of the voice - all these are important considerations for a singer to be most effective and to protect the voice for the future.

The singer described the huge stress involved when she was without a voice and no knowledge of when or indeed if it may return. She explained the difficulties of explaining to her fellow band members, her need to establish some ground rules for her own voice protection in the future.

Our voice is intricately linked to our being and personality. Its loss removes our primary way of projecting ourselves to the outside world. Not only is the quality of the voice an indicator of our health and well being it can also indicate our state of mind. It is the means by which we transmit messages and ideas outwards and respond to others around us. In conversation it is our voice that we rely on to allow us to take part, to participate and to be involved in the sequential exchange of information. As in the case above, the voice can also be our livelihood.

The Speech and Language Unit at York Hospital is bright and airy and covers all aspect of speech and language health issues. Emma Walker specialises in treatment of the pure voice and as a result, has a range of patients many of whom utilize their voices for work related reasons. Her patients present with a variety of problems and I soon realise there are an equal variety of causes for these problems. Stress related causes, small nodules on the vocal cords or inflammation of the vocal cord area and laryngeal tract are just some examples.

Imagine your vocal cords - do you have a visual picture of them? As part of the Lines of Communication project, I have spent time asking people I meet to describe the image they have of the vocal cords - or vocal folds as they are referred to in medical terms. The answers have been broad ranging. From strings to violins, from a harp to a piece of tissue or muscle. They are hidden away in the larynx, situated just above the windpipe below the epiglottis.