WORLD VOICE DAY 2010
Page updated: 8th May 2010
What is World Voice Day?
World Voice Day is celebrated annually on 16th April. The idea began in Brazil and then spread to the USA. The idea is to celebrate healthy voices and highlight the importance of voice at work and in society.
The BVA Contribution for 2010
For World Voice Day 2010 our focus was on providing information about voice disorders and voice clinics for General Practitioners. We have designed a leaflet explaining to them why referral to a voice clinic is valuable for the client and cost effective for them. Many of our clients ask to be referred to a voice clinic but many are met with a lack of knowledge and understanding about both voice disorders and why voice clinics are the best option for referral once a diagnosis of cancer has been excluded. We will include some copies of this leaflet for you in due course. Please try and distribute as many as possible to your local surgeries/health centres.
Download 'Dealing with dysphonia' leaflet
World Voice Day Posters
Copies of the World Voice Day poster that was jointly commissioned by The BVA and Voice Care Network will be available for World Voice Day 2011 through the BVA office. Please contact us if you would like one. Feel free to copy them and distribute them to local health centres/surgeries, schools, public libraries or anywhere you think is appropriate to bring World Voice Day to the attention of the general public.
What can you do to raise awareness of World Voice Day?
Please think about what you could do locally to celebrate World Voice Day. Look on the BVA website and you will see some reports about things others have done in 2009. It does not matter if things are repeated. Maybe you could contact your local radio station or local paper to make them aware of World Voice Day and why voice is important. Some of you may be willing to give an interview or write a short piece about the important of maintaining a healthy voice.
Voice Clinics and World Voice Day
In view of our drive this year to interest GPs in knowing about and referring to voice clinics please consider the possibility of organizing either a voice clinic “open day” for GPs or alternatively give a short presentation about the work of the voice clinic to your local GPs at one of their study days. Most GPs have regular monthly study days. Ask one of your local GPs who organizes these and see what you can arrange. This would be a good place to introduce / distribute our leaflets too.
Possible Interview Topics.
Below are some possible topics to give you ideas for interviews. The main message to get across is that voices are amazing; where would we be without them? They are the most important tool for communication we have; there are lots of things you can do to keep them healthy and encourage people to visit the BVA and Voice Care network websites for further information.
- What do we mean by voice? (e.g. how it makes speech/song/emotional utterances audible for the listener to hear)
- You might briefly want to mention how the voice works
- Talk about how amazing voice is – (e.g. it can fill huge a concert hall yet the vocal folds are roughly the size of a postage stamp)
- Consider things you would find hard to do without your voice, (e.g. work, social life, personal relationships, etc)
- Talk about ideas for keeping your voice healthy and building vocal skills (look on the BVA and Voice Care network websites below for ideas)
- Advice on how to recognize vocal problems and what to do if worried (e.g. any change in voice quality lasting longer than 2 weeks needs to be discussed with the GP/ENT surgeon
- Talk about what is involved in a voice clinic
- Talk about your how voice therapy can help, what it involves
- Refer people to the BVA and Voice Care Network websites for further information and voice clinic lists
- If you have willing patients who benefited from help you might want to ask them to come with you and tell their story
World Voice Day around the world 2010
Below are some reports of what has gone on around the world to celebrate World Voice Day. Others will be posted as I receive them. Please feel free to send in your contributions to give others ideas for what they might do in 2011.
UK: Sara Harris gave a short radio interview on World Voice Day and voice care for 'Hospital Heartbeat' a radio programme which links to UHSM hospital (known locally as Wythenshawe Hospital) in South Manchester.
UK: Linda Collier, Voice Specialist Speech and Language Therapist from Epping Forest sent us the following report on their World Voice Day event:
World Voice Day hit just the right note on 16 April with an information display and expert advice by speech and language therapists at St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping. Patients, visitors and staff had the opportunity to learn more about how their voices work and how to take care of them.
Supported by the British Voice Association, World Voice Day is a celebration of the voice and an opportunity to raise awareness of how to keep it in tip top condition. Smoking, shouting, talking above the noise at sports and social events can all harm the voice as can drinking too much alcohol, coffee or tea.
Speech and language therapist Linda Collier said: “Our display in the reception area at the Epping Forest unit was an excellent opportunity to meet with lots of different people to talk about how to look after your voice. It is, after all, a very valuable resource and following a few helpful tips can make a real difference.”
UK: On World Voice Day (16.4.10) for one day only, Plural Publishing generously offered a 10% discount on any voice book, or 15% on two or more books. We hope people were able to take advantage of this offer and thank you to Plural for joining in the World Voice Day spirit.
UK: Kim Chandler, the BVA Communications Officer, circulated an email to her extensive list of contacts including a picture of the vocal folds and some good reminders of how extraordinary our voices are, what they do for us and how frustrating and distressing it is when we lose them. She finishes with a reminder that those in trouble can 'Ask the BVA' and she includes the BVA contact details.
USA: We have received new World Voice Day information for 2010 from the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. The information can be found on their website at: www.entnet.org/worldvoiceday. The main focus of World Voice Day in the US is "Love your Voice". Their World Voice Day team have developed some attractive patient materials including a podcast and an interactive quiz. They do not charge for anyone wishing to use these materials so do take a look.
USA: The Voice and Swallowing Institute of the New York Eye and Ear Hospital, in coordination with MusiCares have, for the last three years run a free vocal health screening for singer’s with no health insurance. The screening sessions run between 9.30am and 2.30pm and because of the enormous response (75 in the first year) they have had to develop selection criteria and restrict their numbers to 45. KayPentax support the day by supplying extra stroboscopy units to make up four examination stations. Each station is staffed by a voice therapist. The singers fill out a questionnaire for discussion with the therapist. They then receive a stroboscopic examination of their larynx which is interpreted by an ENT surgeon and the voice therapist. At the end of the session each singer receives a summary of their diagnosis and recommended treatment together with a resource packet containing their stroboscopic photos, information on vocal care and the contact information for MusiCares in case they require financial support for further treatment. The feedback from singers has been universally positive and the teams have picked up a high proportion of pathology which might otherwise have gone untreated. The New York Eye and Ear Hospital is to be congratulated on this initiative and I am sure they have many extremely grateful singers.
Kenya: Emma Shah, Speech and Language Therapist based at Nairobi Hospital, Kenya has sent us a report of the World Voice Day events their Hospital Department set up this year to celebrate healthy voices and voice care. They began World Voice Day events on Monday, 12th April when Consultant ENT Dr Omamo and ex-voice client and singer Linda gave an interview to the Daily Nation, a national newspaper, about the voice clinics and their importance for accurate diagnosis. She also gave a live interview on one of the early morning TV programmes later in the week. On World Voice Day, (16th April) Nairobi Hospital hosted "Love your Voice", an event with speakers Elizabeth Kruger, Speech and Language Therapist, David Kairie, (who has had a laryngectomy), Carol Nderitu, a performance poet with a poem especially adapted for World Voice Day, Fed Ngugi, a teacher, a famous Burundian singer and a Kenyan preacher/pastor. Two Speech and Language Therapists ran concurrent workshops, one for basic relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing and the other for people who have experienced voice problems. They shared ideas on how to manage vocal problems and keep their voices healthy and the therapist finished with a practical vocal warm up. The event was well attended by professional voice users, local radio presenters and celebrities as well as informal singers. The media were also present and many of the speakers gave interviews. The Hospital choir sang over the lunch break. Emma says: "It was a very creative, celebratory morning and lots of fun!" We congratulate Nairobi Hospital on a great week to celebrate Voice and hope their ideas will inspire others next year.
Belgrade, Serbia: The Communication Disorders Care Centre in Belgrade have requested to put the British Voice Association leaflet "Dealing with Dysphonia: a luxury or a necessity? on their website and to translate it into Serbian. They will be celebrating World Voice Day and we look forward to hearing about their events in due course.
Useful Websites
- The American Academy of Otolaryngologists at: www.entnet.org/worldvoiceday
- Voice Care Network at: www.voicecare.org.uk
