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Uvula movement by doing specific vocal exercises for puberphonia
Making an "ah" sound, or by practicing exercises that strengthen throat muscles, such as sticking your tongue out to the side or gargling. Yawning &snoring also helps raise your soft palate and move the uvula. These exercises can be helpful for speech, by improving the movement of the soft palate, which includes the uvula. By simply bending the head and saying "OM" uvula vibration can be felt and it vibrates the body and siul.
[9/16, 8:22 AM] Dr. M. Kumaresan MS(ENT): The uvula helps to form specific speech sounds by vibrating against the back of the tongue or the pharyngeal wall.
** Guttural Sounds:** It is involved in producing guttural sounds and the uvular trill.
Nasal Passage Closure:
In some instances, the uvula moves with the soft palate to block the nasal passage, preventing air from escaping through the nose during the articulation of sounds like "g".
Low pitched speech is Initiated at the level of uvula vibration in puberphonia UMAR treatment. The entire system of the mouth and throat, known as the vocal tract, the sound produced by the vocal cords. The shape of the sound is produced by vocal tract structures. Longer and wider vocal tract needed.
Converting laryngeal to pharyngeal speech for puberphonia
1. Abdominal breathing by moving the hand.
2. Near the mouth place the palm and talk
3. Bend the neck and talk.
4. Snore or cough and talk.
5. Speak in a noisy place.
6. Push the wall and talk.
7. Lift the object and talk.
8. Play or walk and talk.
9. Humming and talking.
10. Lowering the larynx and talk.
11. Swallow or take food and talk.
12. Make an imobile larynx.
13. Avoid speaking from the larynx.
14. Speak from the pharynx.
Exercises to Lower the Pharynx and larynx.
1. Shaker Exercise: This exercise involves lying on your back with your head raised off the pillow, and then gradually lifting your head higher and higher, engaging your throat muscles.
2. Mendelsohn Maneuver:This exercise involves swallowing and consciously holding your Adam's apple high for a few seconds, strengthening the muscles responsible for swallowing.
3. Masako Maneuver:This exercise involves extending your tongue out of your mouth and biting down gently, while swallowing, strengthening the posterior pharyngeal wall.
4. Super-Supraglottic Swallow:This exercise involves taking a deep breath, holding it, and then bearing down as you swallow.
5. Head Turn:Turning your head from shoulder to shoulder, as far as possible without causing pain, can help stretch and relax throat muscles.
6. Yawn, then Swallow:Yawning and then swallowing can help lower the larynx and open the throat.
7. Hot Potato:Imagine having a hot potato in your mouth and avoid touching the sides of your mouth, which can help widen the throat.
8. Giggle Posture:Pretending something funny is happening and feeling a giggle in your throat can help relax and lower the larynx.
9. Flip-Top Head:Rest your chin on the back of your hands with your elbows on a table and imagine raising your upper jaw, which can help widen the throat.
10. Tongue Stretch:Extend your tongue as far as possible and say your telephone number, trying to maintain clarity, which can stretch throat muscles.
11. Hyoid shift Maneuver:This exercise involves shifting the hyoid bone (a small bone in the neck) with a straw blowing which can help change the voice .
12.Lowering larynx exercises in puberphonia training.
a.Isometric exercises: These exercises involve sustained muscle contraction against resistance, with minimal or no movement of the joint. While not directly designed to lower the larynx, some isometric exercises can strengthen muscles involved in swallowing and vocalization, indirectly influencing laryngeal position. Isometric exercises do not directly lower the larynx, but some exercises, particularly those involving swallowing and vocal exercises, can help improve laryngeal control and potentially lower its position during specific sounds or movements. These exercises primarily focus on strengthening the muscles around the larynx and improving coordination between breathing and vocal production.
b.Swallowing exercises:These exercises, like the "hold and swallow" exercise, can help strengthen the muscles responsible for closing the larynx during swallowing.
c.Vocal exercises:Exercises that involve a "dopey" or "yawny" sound, or modifying vowels, can help train the larynx to not always rise for high notes, potentially lowering its position for certain sounds.
d.Laryngeal height and vocal quality:The position of the larynx can influence vocal quality and pitch. By controlling laryngeal height through exercises, singers and speakers can achieve a wider range of sounds and potentially lower the larynx during specific vocalizations.
e.Focus on control, not forced lowering:While some exercises might temporarily lower the larynx, the goal is not to force it down. Instead, it's about developing the necessary muscle control and coordination to achieve the desired laryngeal height for different sounds and purposes.
Pharyngeal voice with uvula vibration without Strain in Puberphonia training
1. Who doesn’t want more power without strain? This is a simple technique to apply and a bit easier than the one above. All you have to do is to keep your chin pointed slightly down and your pectorals slightly flexed (well sometimes it’s a lot flexed) when you go for more power.
2. Press on your chest with both hands, then, raise your chest higher than normal. Take a breath in and then exhale, but don’t drop your chest. Sing one note and hold it as long as possible with your chest raised.
3. Take your first two fingers and pull your jaw down 2 inches (or even better – use a plastic bottle cap or a cork (wine) to prop your jaw open). And speak the vowels.
4. Press your tongue down in the back of your throat to “anchor” the note.
5. DON'T SING FROM YOUR THROAT
Despite all this talk about healthy vocal cords, your vocal folds are only one part of a complex system that produces your voice. To speak well and maintain your vocal health, you need to understand your body and know where your voice is coming from. You should never talk from your vocal cords—the power behind your voice is your breath, and your breath should be supported by your diaphragm. Allow your vocal cords to relax, and let your voice resonate in your chest, pharynx, and face with vibration of uvula. Don’t worry if this doesn’t immediately make sense to you. It takes time to train your body to support your voice, though you can speed up the process by working with UMAR.
1.Vowel sounds are low pitched voice: This is a quick trick that makes you sound better instantly so I called it the “Instant Fix”. Say A-E-I-O-U (watch your jaw movement in the mirror). Did your jaw close on any of the vowels? Chances are your jaw closed on the E and the U – and most likely on others too, if not all of them.
2.Abdominal breathing. Sit on a bench with a table in front. Lean forward while keeping the head in the table. Feel the abdominal breathing. Practice abdominal breathing throughout the day: As you become more proficient, you can practice abdominal breathing while standing, sitting, or even driving.
Abdominal breathing offers several benefits to your body including:
1.Helping you larynx relax.
2.Improving pharyngeal muscles function during speaking and prevent strain of vocal cords.
3.Increasing how much oxygen is in your blood.
4.Making it easier for your body to release gas waste from your lungs.
5.Reducing blood pressure.
6.Reducing heart rate.
Fire of breathing in UMAR -aid to energize the body and mind. The yoga practice involves forceful, active exhales driven by the diaphragm and belly, with passive inhales.
A "manly" voice is typically characterized by a lower pitch, richer resonance, and breathier texture, often perceived as confident and authoritative. These qualities are primarily influenced by the pharyngeal phonation and the size of their vocal tract. Relax the Larynx: Yawning, snoring or humming exercises can help relax and lower your larynx (voice box), no work to the larynx, which is a key component for creating a deeper sound in the pharynx.
Increase Chest and nasal/ sinus eesonance: Practice humming, vibrating uvula,deeply and feel the vibrations in your chest. Speaking from this place of resonance can help create a richer, fuller tone.
3.Open mouth practice: Take your first two fingers and pull your jaw down 2 inches (or even better – use a plastic bottle cap or a cork (wine) to pop your jaw open). And speak the vowels.
The instructions are a vocal exercise for singers and speakers to improve resonance and open up the vocal tract by physically propping the jaw open while speaking or singing the vowels (A, E, I, O, U). The goal is to retrain muscle memory so the jaw remains open on all vowels, resulting in a louder, more resonant voice with less strain.
Use a prop: Place a plastic bottle cap or a wine cork between your teeth to keep your jaw held open.
Speak the vowels: Say the vowels "A-E-I-O-U" with the prop in place.
Observe the jaw: Watch in a mirror to see if your jaw is opening on each vowel.
Practice the goal: Your objective is to keep your jaw open on every vowel, maintaining a long, open sound rather than closing it.
Sing a phrase: Once you can do this with individual vowels, try singing a short phrase from a song, making sure your jaw opens to the same position on each vowel.
Repeat: Continuously repeat the exercise to reprogram your muscle memory and make this new movement natural.
Keeping the jaw open creates a more open vocal tract, which increases resonance and makes your voice sound louder and richer.
Reduced Strain: A wide-open jaw can reduce vocal strain, as it gives the vocal cords more room and allows them to work more efficiently.
Muscle Memory: The consistent practice helps to build new muscle memory, allowing you to maintain an open jaw without thinking about it over tim..e
4. You should think down for your high notes or think of adding weight (resistance) to your highest notes.
5. Keep your chin pointed slightly down and your pectorals slightly flexed (well sometimes it’s a lot flexed) when you go for more power. Most singers reach forward or lift their chin up to sing with more power. While it may temporarily work, it causes vocal problems. Tipping your chin down not only works better and saves your voice – it actually SOUNDS better! Stand in front of the good ‘ol mirror.
6. press on your chest with both hands, then raise your chest higher than normal. Take a breath in and then exhale, but don’t drop your chest. Sing one note and hold it as long as possible with your chest raised. Press on your chest halfway through the note (press kind of hard and raise your chest to meet the pressure). Relax the back of your neck and keep your jaw open as you’re singing “ahhh.” Imagine the air spinning around in your mouth while keeping your chin tucked down a bit and your chest raised. Keep in mind, overuse of vibrato is not a good thing in contemporary singing (pop, rock and R&B). At the same time, no vibrato is also not a good thing. So, try ending phrases with straight tone, then into a little bit of vibrato. The bottom line is to do what’s best for you
"Fire of Breathing," or Breath of Fire, is a breathing technique, also known as Kapalabhati, that involves fast, sharp, active exhalations through the nose with passive inhalations, creating a rhythmic, pumping action in the lower belly. While it's a powerful tool for core strength and confidence in general yoga practices, it's also used as a component in certain voice therapies for puberphonia, which is a condition where an adult male maintains a high-pitched voice. The technique in puberphonia treatment, such as in Dr. M. Kumaresan's method, focuses on activating the breath to manipulate the pharyngeal resonance and stimulate the upper vocal tract, helping patients to lower their voice and establish a new, deeper vocal habit.
