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World Voice Day 2015
The British Voice Association's contribution to World Voice Day 2015
In 2015 the BVA produced a leaflet highlighting the link between stress, emotion and voice. The 6-page leaflet focuses on how stress and emotion can impact on our voice production causing pain and hoarseness, usually in the absence of any physical abnormality on the vocal folds themselves. Diagnosis and current treatment options are addressed. We hope the leaflet will be a useful downloadable resource for voice clinics, speech therapy clinics, and singing/spoken voice teachers.
The leaflet is available to download from our 'Free Resources' section
World Voice Day 2015 News - UK and around the world
UK, Kent: Medway Maritime Hospital (Gillingham) and Darent Valley Hospital (Dartford)
On April 16th 2015, the Adult Speech and Language Therapists of Medway Community Healthcare hung up their stethoscopes and communication assessments for the day to celebrate World Voice Day 2015. They made themselves available to the public and other health professionals in the atrium of their hospitals to provide information, quizzes, live videos of the larynx (voice box) in action and demonstrations throughout the day. Most importantly, Speech and Language specialists (in voice therapy) were on hand to answer questions and explain and promote the vital service that they provide. After-all, everyone deserves to have a voice. Although not just A voice, THEIR voice.
They received a wealth of positive feedback from members of the public, from those who did not know how their voice worked, to people who were given advice and support in how to access Speech and Language Therapy. Other people who came to speak to them during the event included a professional voiceover actor, a singer, the mother of a barrister who often loses her voice, a respiratory consultant and a DVH staff member who often has difficulty using her voice.
The voice is essential, personal and unique to every individual. It is the main tool for both factual and emotional communication and is often taken for granted until something goes wrong. There can be many reasons for changes in the voice, some natural and expected, and some unnatural and unexpected. Speech and Language Therapists, working in close partnership with many other health professionals, can offer advice, support and therapy to enable those with voice difficulties to recover or find new ways to reclaim their identity that is often felt lost, through the changes to their voice.
UK, London, Lewisham
‘The Art and Science of Voice’ took place on 16th April 2015 and was a huge success. The event was organised by Mr Nick Gibbins, Consultant Laryngologist (Lewisham Voice Disorders Unit) to celebrate World Voice Day. The evening included three short talks. The first covered the fascinating evolution of the lungs and larynx, from the gills of fish to the complex lungs and amazing voices we have today. The other two talks focussed on singing as therapy and Nicola Wyednbach and Eleanor Meynall spoke movingly about how singing is helping improve the lives of people suffering from Parkinsons’ Disease and Dementia respectively.
Internationally renowned singers, Eleanor Meynall, (soprano) Lawrence Wallington, (bass) and Nicola Wydenbach (soprano) then delighted the audience with a wonderful concert with repertoire ranging in style from operatic areas to Flanders and Swann.
The evening was generously hosted by Yvonne and Jonathan Horsfall Turner, who provided delicious canapés and sparkling wine at their magnificent Stone House, a beautiful and unique 18th Century Palladian villa close to Lewisham.
Entry was by donation and the proceeds are to be equally divided between the British Voice Association and Help Musicians UK.
UK, Birmingham: Queen Elizabeth Hospital
The SLT voice team at University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust consists of six part time therapists. We work as part of the multidisciplinary ENT team here in this acute hospital setting, treating hundreds of out patients a year with varying voice problems. For World Voice Day 2015 we put up a stand in the hospital atrium containing voice care information and facts about vocal health for both public and staff to view. This was really successful in that we were involved in very useful “voice” conversations for most of the morning as a result and gave away many voice leaflets kindly donated by the BVA for that purpose. People told us how useful it was to see information about voice and that they were unaware that help was available. We had a number of staff and patients who are now aware of how to access our service and many people who were happy to accept advice on how to improve their vocal health.
Hong Kong
Professor David Howard gave a lecture on the ‘Vocal Tract Organ’ at Hong Kong University to celebrate World Voice Day.
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