The Listenary

Cold and flu season brings coughing and often leaves a residual cough or clearing of the throat. Allergy season brings hoarseness and clearing of the throat. These seasons are important times to pay special attention to taking care of your speaking voice.

Tip #4: Minimize Coughing and Clearing of the Throat.

Every time you cough or clear your throat, you put more wear on your vocal cords. A cough often requires a type of spasm in the throat. Clearing the throat requires vocalization under poor conditions.

A cough is good when it brings up phlegm and toxins from the lungs and air passages. I would say breathing is probably more important than speaking, so you can give a cough when you need to in order to breathe better.

However, many people cough or clear the throat over a tickle, a dryness, or an irritation in the throat that continues and produces no clearing of toxins. This is when noticing and taking measures to stop the coughing or clearing stimulus is important.

So, rather than giving in to a constant cough, carry a glass of water to sip, or gargle often with warm salt water or lemon water, or suck a throat lozenge, or use your choice of the cough medicines available.

Take care of your speaking voice and it will take care of you. That means noticing the desire to cough or clear your throat and doing something about it.