VOICE CARE FOR INTERPRETERS

Sharing personal fears and professional experiences, this episode delves into the mechanics of the human voice, the impact of vocal strain, and practical strategies for maintaining vocal wellness. From staying hydrated to proper breathing techniques, this guide is packed with essential tips for interpreters to preserve their voices and sustain their careers.

Check out voice warm-up exercises here:
Mark Baxter-Voicelesson.com

Transcript

MARITZA: 0:08

My number one career fear is losing my voice. I've even had nightmares about it. I see myself going to an interpreting session, opening my mouth, and nothing comes out. Or I'm at an interpreting session, and my voice is super raspy and old, and no one can understand me. For interpreters, our voice is the bridge between languages, the medium through which we convey meaning, tone, and emotion. Your voice is a vital tool in the work you do as an interpreter. Taking care of it should be priority. For seasoned interpreters that have been doing this for a while, it's even more of a priority. So when we talk about our voice, can you define what voice is? And how can we protect it from strain or injury? In this episode, we'll talk about the understanding of the voice mechanism, recognizing signs of vocal strain, common causes of voice problems, lifestyle changes for vocal health, the benefits of using a humidifier, vocal exercises, professional help, and how to prioritize your vocal health. We have lots to cover, so let's get started. The voice is more than just sound. It's a complex system powered by your body. The vocal folds, also called vocal cords, are two bands of smooth muscle tissue located in the larynx, which sits between the base of your tongue and the top of your trachea. The trachea is the airway leading to your lungs. When you're not speaking, your vocal folds remain open, allowing you to breathe freely. When you need to speak, the brain sends signals to bring those folds together. Air from your lungs passes through them, causing vibrations which produce sound waves. These waves resonate throughout your throat, nose, and mouth, creating the voice you hear. Someone told me that our voices sound different from what everybody else hears because our ears are very close to our mouths. So, the way that we hear ourselves is a little different than how other people hear us. Tone and volume are shaped by the size and structure of your vocal folds and the resonating cavities. That's why each person's voice sounds distinct. Now, vocal strain can lead to problems that can impact your performance and ultimately your career. And that's what we want to avoid. In the United States alone, there are more than 17 million adults that experience voice disorders each year, many of which are preventable with proper care. That's a lot of people with vocal problems. Our interpreting sessions can be intense, and they require long stretches of talking without much break. I was a contractor for immigration hearings. There would be 60 people in the room in the morning alone. By the time lunchtime came, my voice was already shot. At the end of the day, I didn't even want to talk to anybody. I'm sure you've experienced the same thing. It's not just your voice. Your face feels heavy. Yes, we can take breaks or ask for breaks, but sometimes we just want to get the session done. I remember thinking at immigration court, I don't want to ask for a break because the judge isn't taking a break. The Homeland Security lawyers aren't asking for a break. If I wanted a break during court, I would have to ask the judge. Your Honor, the interpreter requests a 10 minute break. And everything would come to a standstill. Everybody would have to wait for the interpreter to take their 10 minute break and come back. I did work with a judge one time that would take breaks, but he wouldn't say, I'm taking a break. He would say, we are now in a 10 minute recess, so the interpreter can take a break. I always thought that was funny, but I was so thankful. It's the constant use of our voices that places a lot of demand on our vocal cords. That's why it's so important to know when your voice might be in trouble. Ask yourself, has your voice become hoarse or raspy? Do you feel like you've lost some of your vocal range? Does it suddenly feel like an effort to talk or does your throat ache after a session? I hope you don't have any of those symptoms, but if you've answered yes to any of those questions, you might be experiencing early signs of vocal strain. Some of the common causes of voice problems are, and these might surprise you, vocal misuse and overuse. Those are the common culprits for interpreters. Long hours of speaking, improper breathing techniques, or even talking in noisy environments can put undue stress on your vocal cords. Other causes are upper respiratory infections, acid reflux, or GERD, which can irritate the vocal cords. Other things that affect our voice are vocal nodules or other growths on the vocal folds. Neurological conditions that affect the voice such as spasmodic dysphonia. Spasmodic dysphonia is a genetic disease that has no cure and can be different from one person to another. Have you ever listened to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak? He has Spasmodic dysphonia. Recently I was listening to Tony Robbins. I hadn't seen him in a while so I got curious and clicked on his video. The first thing I noticed was that his voice was way different from when he first started public speaking. All those years of public speaking have taken a toll on his voice. he continues to speak publicly because that's his career. That's what he does. He speaks. We can avoid that kind of raspiness as we continue in our careers, and I'm going to tell you how. First, take vocal breaks. Just like any muscle, your vocal cords need rest. If you're working long hours, take vocal naps by staying silent for a few minutes throughout the day. I'm always harping about interpreters needing to take breaks, and I try to take breaks as often as I can. Actually, when I started over-the-phone interpreting with the agency that I work for now, I wanted to do such a great job that I worked for six hours straight. I would take quick breaks to the bathroom. I did have a cup of water in front of me, but I was taking one call after another, hour after hour after hour. Guys, let me tell you, the next day, I could barely speak. I felt like my entire throat was swollen. My face felt swollen. Another thing that you can do to take care of your voice is use a microphone. If you're interpreting in a large room or noisy environment, use a microphone when possible. Most courts have a microphone system. They'll have a microphone and a headset for you and one for the person that you're interpreting for. Having this set up with a headphone and microphone for both of you is ideal. Sometimes I get complaints from clients when I'm doing over-the-phone interpreting, saying that they can barely hear me. But that really isn't me. It's actually their phone system. Some government agencies have outdated phone systems. When they add a third person to a phone call, as a conference call, someone will have a lesser volume. Two people on the call will hear each other just fine, but the third person will hear at a lower volume. When this happens to me, I try to speak a little louder, But I don't want to strain my voice, so if the client complains again, then I simply say politely, I'm going to suggest that you get another interpreter. If you have to speak louder than usual because the consumer is hard of hearing, keep your voice in check. Speak as loudly as you can, within limits. Try and find a range where you're speaking louder, but not so loud that you strain your voice. It's kind of hard to explain. I'm sure you understand what I'm trying to get at. When I do that, I find myself speaking at that higher volume with the rest of the calls for the day. I feel like I'm yelling at everybody. Proper breathing is key in maintaining good vocal health. You need to support your voice with deep breaths from the diaphragm, not shallow breaths from your throat. You can tell when you're doing this because you can feel that you're running out of breath before you even finish interpreting a sentence. By having the proper breathing, you'll help reduce the strain during the long interpreting sessions. You also won't sound like you're running out of breath. Another thing you can do is avoid vocal abuse. Try not to shout or whisper. Both of those are extremes and can harm your vocal cords. I've seen interpreters having to sit next to the person that they're interpreting for, like in social security administration hearings, or even in small courts, because there is no microphone system where they can wear a headset with a microphone, and then the person that they're interpreting for has a similar headset and microphone. So you have to sit kind of behind the person, next to their ear, and speak not too loud so that everybody can hear you, but loud enough so that the person that you're interpreting for can hear you. The problem with this setup is that you're basically whispering, which causes strain on your vocal cords. So try not to shout or whisper. Both of those are extremes and can harm your vocal cords. That's why you don't want to be talking over noise, which forces your voice to work harder. Now we have to make adjustments in our lifestyle to maintain vocal health. So what are these things that you can do? Number one, Captain Obvious, don't smoke. Smoking irritates your vocal cords and can lead to serious problems like cancer of the larynx. You want to eat well. A balanced diet with plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables help keep the mucous membranes lining your throat healthy. Avoid hot foods and spices and dairy products. Spicy foods and spices can cause you to feel a scratchiness in your voice, or they can cause acid reflux. And dairy products are just, I'm sorry, totally disgusting. They cause phlegm in your throat. And there you are trying to clear your throat, which by the way, clearing your throat. Yeah, like that. It's not good for your throat. Consider gargling with warm water and salt in the mornings or the evenings. I was using lozenges but it turned out that it gave me like this slimy film in my throat, and then it would cause me to not sound like I like to sound, which is crisp and clear. Soda also causes a slimy film on your throat. It's that caramel coloring mixed with the syrup, ugh. So drink sparkling water instead, or regular water. When you take a break in your interpreting sessions and you have a snack, make sure that it's a wet snack. Grapes. Watermelon. Kiwi. Any kind of fruit that has a high water content. Same thing for vegetables. We touched on this earlier several times, but if you have problems with acid reflux or GERD, take steps to manage it with medication or change your diet. I live in a very arid state, so the humidity levels indoors and out is very, very low. After an entire day of interpreting, the next day, my voice felt very dry, along with my eyes, because I also have very dry eyes. If you have dry eyes, you know what I'm talking about. You wake up in the morning and you can't open your eyes because your eyelids are stuck to your eyeballs. I decided to buy a humidifier. I read about how humidifiers can help your voice, dry eyes, and even dry skin. I bought a fancy humidifier. It's great. I do have to warn you A humidifier is high maintenance. Oh my goodness. The instructions said that I only had to clean it every week. No you don't. You have to clean this puppy every day. Every day I have to change out the water. Even if I let the water sit for just one day inside the humidifier tank, when I look inside the tank, I see this white filmy thing floating around. It even creates this pink fungi thing that sticks to the parts of the humidifier. It's so disgusting. That's the thing about humidifiers. If you don't keep your humidifier clean, it creates bacteria in the water, it shoots it out into your air, you breathe it, and guess what? You get sick. You have to clean the humidifier every day. Also, you have to keep in mind the mineral content in the water that you use. I live in a mountain state. Our water is very high in minerals and sediments. That water ruins appliances that use water. Coffee makers, humidifiers, hydroponic gardens, CPAP machines. Anything that you have to fill with water, it will ruin it. So I have to use distilled water. But I didn't want to be going to the supermarket every day buying gallons of distilled water and be the culprit of plastic jugs going to the landfill. So, I did a bit of research and I found something called a water distiller. It cost less than a hundred dollars. It removes all the minerals and sediments from the water and it gives me distilled water It makes about a gallon of distilled water in two hours. It's a very time-consuming process. I start Saturday morning and by Sunday evening I have six gallons of distilled water to use during the week. I've always wondered if vocal exercises like the ones that singers use would help me as an interpreter. I did find a YouTube video that was for how to warm up your voice for singing, but it also worked for me as an interpreter. The video is by Mark Baxter, hehasvoicelesson. com. The video by Mark that I use every day before I start my interpreting sessions is called Wake Up Voice. Every morning I turn on Mark's video, and while I'm putting on my makeup or getting dressed, I do the exercises. Check out Mark's voice warm up exercises on YouTube. They're amazing. If you notice persistent issues with your voice, consider seeking help with a speech language pathologist who specializes in voice therapy. They can provide exercises and techniques to ensure you're using your voice in the healthiest way possible. Earlier this year, I went to visit my mom. She lives with my sister, and my sister has a cat. A very old cat. Because the cat is so old, he doesn't make it to the litter box on time to pee, so he pees on the floor. If you know anything about cats, cats have a very high concentration of ammonia in their urine. I tried to stay away from the cat, but I wanted to help out my sister. so I started cleaning up after the cat every time he peed on the floor. Not a good idea. This is the one time that I should not have been a giver. As I cleaned the floor I was also breathing this ammonia that emanated from the urine. I should have worn a mask. Thankfully, I was only there for two and a half days, but that was enough for me to develop a very severe allergic reaction to the ammonia. I started getting headaches and worse, my voice was shot. I kept thinking, well, maybe I have a cold. No, maybe it's because I was in my mountain state and now I'm on an island and the difference between elevation probably caused me to have problems with my voice. No, it was the cat urine. Oh my goodness. I couldn't speak. It sounded raspy. It was irritated. I figured, okay, if I don't talk to anybody, then I'm good, because it'll give my voice some rest. I also started taking allergy medications. What I should have done was listen to my son. He told me to go to the doctor, and I didn't. I figured that I could just get over it. It took my voice four weeks to recover. I was almost in tears. I had convinced myself that I would never recover my voice. If you have a cat in the home, anytime you're anywhere near that kitty litter box, use a mask. Well, now that you know how your voice works and you practice these good vocal habits that I've laid out, you can ensure that it remains strong and healthy throughout your career. I want to invite you to listen to the weekly episodes called Ring of Fire. They're my terminology practice sessions where I cover terminology in medical, legal, and general. The sessions are designed for any language. Download episodes so that you can practice wherever you're at. And join me next time for the next episode of Interpreters and Interrupters.