Water is important for all bodily functions, and if you speak or sing a lot the moisture on your vocal chords will evaporate quicker than normal. The first important step you should take to keep your voice hydrated is to drinks lots and lots of water. Not tea, coffee, soft drinks or alcohol (most of which are dehydrating for the voice) but pure, natural water. Even juices take longer to hydrate the voice than good old plain water.
First thing in the morning, make sure you drink a lot of water as soon as you get up as this is the time your body is most dehydrated and needs to replenish itself. Then drink water throughout the day, even just before going to bed to help prevent excessive dehydration over night. If you must drink tea and coffee then reduce the amount you drink and balance it out with more water.

Unfortunately, drinking water is not always enough. The body takes the water and transports it through the bloodstream to where it’s needed, beginning with the most important parts of the body. Your vocal chords are not considered a priority by your body. And, while water may help to sooth a sore throat, it is not automatically reaching your vocal chords everytime you drink.

If you imagine your body, liquid goes into your mouth, down your throat and into your oesophagus. It never reaches the larynx, which is in your airway – if the water went down that way you would drown yourself!

So, a simple way of hydrating your voice in addition to drinking plenty of water is to use a steam inhaler. Simply fill the inhaler with very hot water, pop on the lid, place the face piece over the nose and mouth and inhale the steam. The steam leaves tiny droplets of water on your vocal chords and warms them up (as well as opening up your lungs and helping to get any congestion moving).

You can buy steamers that heat the water for you, like this personal steamer from Amazon, which are very useful if you are on-the-road a lot and not sure if you will be able to use a kettle.

However, I tend to just buy these basic ones from the local chemist (drug store) which cost less than five pounds. I keep one at home and one at the studio:

I wasn’t going to cover this at the moment, because it is so difficult to talk about looking after the voice without sounding precious and preachy. Before the no-smoking laws changed in the UK, I rarely went to pubs (especially on weekdays) because of the smoke, and when I did I would be complaining about the effect the smoke was having on my voice. All my friends used to roll their eyes as if to say “here she goes again!” I know it sounds overly cautious, but I knew that my voice sounded different the following day.

The same could be said for catching colds – voiceovers treat people with colds like they have the plague! It can ruin the quality of your work for days, and sometimes weeks. You may sound sexily husky at times following a cold, but if that isn’t your usual sound then it isn’t much use because you can’t maintain it.

The attitude of many people who rely on their voice for their work – podcasters, public speakers, teachers – is “speaking is speaking, why should I do anything different to anyone else when we all talk every day?”

The difference is that you rely more on your voice, you use your voice in a different way to the average person in the street, and you need to maintain it so that your voice never lets you down. And, as I’ve learned from experience – in the words of Joni Mitchell – you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone! Your voice is a tool or instrument, and just as you would look after any tools you need for work, you should do the same with your voice. In fact, you should be more careful with your voice – you can replace a computer or a car or a hammer, but you can’t replace your larynx!

There are preventative measures you can take to avoid problems with your voice such as not smoking, keeping healthy (avoid those cold and flu germs), not coughing/clearing your throat excessively, and not shouting too much. There are also things you can do to improve your voice such as drinking lots of water, steaming your vocal chords (I’ll explain that one tomorrow), and performing warm-up exercises before speaking.

And if you do get voice problems? Even the most careful professional speakers still experience problems with their voices – sometimes they are unavoidable. By taking care of your voice you may not be able to avoid problems altogether but you will be more aware of what is happening with your voice, so you can catch those problems early and seek professional help if necessary.