When I was in grad school at NYU, I struggled with a lot of mysterious health issues. Among these issues were chronic pain and inflammation in my mouth and throat area. This really affected my ability to sing at times, and I experienced some frustration when I had to practice or perform. I later found out that I had an autoimmune disease, and with proper medical help, I was able to reduce my symptoms to a manageable level. However, I noticed a new problem emerge when I recovered. I had a chronic tightness and squeeze-like sound in my voice, even after I felt better! I didn’t know what was wrong until I met with a speech language pathologist, who then diagnosed me with muscle tension dysphonia.
Muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) is a voice disorder that is characterized by very tense muscles in the larynx surrounding the vocal cords. When you have chronic tension in this area, you may notice qualities like hoarseness, raspiness, tightness, and general discomfort when speaking or singing. This can obviously affect your ability to sing well and comfortably, whether it be in school or in a performing career.
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In my case, I developed MTD because of an inflammatory chronic illness that caused muscle weakness in certain areas, which then caused other muscles in my throat to have to compensate. But MTD can be caused by a number of factors, including illness, stress and anxiety, allergies, reflux, overuse of the voice, and so on. Singers with MTD often experience frustration and discouragement when trying to figure out how to navigate this disorder. Which leads us to the question: how do you treat it?
It is important to note that if you do have MTD, that doesn’t mean it’s the end of your singing career. Far from it! There are medical professionals and instructors who can help you get back to a healthy vocal baseline. If you are experiencing symptoms of what you think could be MTD, it is important to meet with a speech language pathologist (SLP) for an official diagnosis. A diagnostic evaluation often includes questions about your health history and a laryngoscopy (scoping the vocal cords). If you do receive a diagnosis, the SLP will help you recover through voice therapy and some relaxation techniques. You can think of voice therapy like physical therapy, but for the larynx and muscles surrounding it.
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Just remember that it is crucially important to keep your vocal health a priority while you are training and performing. If you experience general tension or discomfort in your voice on occasion, that is most likely just a normal part of voice training that you can work through with your voice teacher. However, if you experience symptoms of MTD consistently, you might want to meet with an SLP to get things checked out.
Hope this helps, and happy singing!
