It's Cold Season, pt. 4: Coughing and Clearing Your Throat

Perhaps the most common problem with vocal faults during a cold comes from the constant coughing, clearing your throat, or even the hacking (whatever you call "loosening up the phlegm).  In some cases, it is unavoidable, so don't sweat it.  

In most cases, however, it is simply something we do consciously because having junk in the throat and lungs is uncomfortable.  But as thrilling as it is to have victory over the phlegm that is plaguing your throat, you are actually not helping the matter.  

Coughing and clearing your throat, whether you are sick or not, damages your voice.  It can be likened to rubbing sandpaper on your cords.   

I know that I haven't shown what healthy vocal folds look like, but here is an example of someone who has coughed persistently.  Notice the bleeding of the vocal cords, its not hard to miss. 

So what should you do instead of coughing?  Try these things:

1. Drink water.  Water helps thin out phlegm and keep the vocal folds hydrated.  

2. Instead of a loud, normal cough, try loosening the phlegm with an inaudible cough.  Instead of a normal cough, its more like a hard hitting a vowel more.  "ah, ah, ah" not "ha ha ha."  Its called a glottal stop, if that helps.  

3. You can try vocal exercises.  Go high and low without stopping with your voice.  Much like choir warm ups when you were in high school.  This should help naturally loosen the stuff off your folds.

But again, sometimes, its unavoidable.  So, be cautious and listen to your instinct on what you need.