Heather Gross, M.S., CCC-SLP
Stress can affect your voice. When we experience anxiety, stress, or a traumatic event, the resulting tension can cause changes to the voice. It may sound strained or weak, or you may have trouble projecting your voice or speaking for prolonged periods of time. A speech therapist can teach you how to heal your voice and use it in a healthier way.
Key takeaways
Stress, anxiety, or other emotional trauma can affect the way your voice sounds and feels. Your voice may be weak, tired, or strained, or it may be difficult to speak loudly or for long periods.
Crying can also affect your voice, making it sound hoarse or raspy.
Speech therapy can help you heal your voice. You can learn how to take care of your voice, lower your vocal effort, and use your voice in a healthier way.
For many people, it's helpful to explore both the physical and emotional aspects of their voice problems in speech therapy.
Expert voice therapy from home
We offer online voice training and rehabilitation that's tailored to your goals. Get matched with a voice therapist today.
Get startedThe power of the voice to convey emotions
You can often tell how someone is feeling–happy, irritated, unsure–by the sound of their voice. Humans can convey emotions such as sadness, grief, fear, sarcasm, excitement, awe, and contentment through the tone of their speaking voice. And in fact, our voice is a powerful way to communicate these feelings.
A study from Yale University revealed that our sense of hearing may be better at recognizing emotions than our sense of sight. The research found that people can more often tell someone’s emotional state by the sound of their voice, rather than by their facial expressions.
When we’re only listening to a person’s voice, without also seeing their body language or expressions, we’re more attuned to what we hear. That includes subtle shifts in voice pitch, voice quality, changes in tone or rate of speech, and breathing patterns.
What is a voice disorder? Learn the symptoms of vocal cord damage and other common voice disorders, along with how voice therapy works.
Can stress affect your voice?
Stress can increase tension in your body and change your breathing, which can affect the way your voice sounds and feels.
The voice (or larynx) is housed within the throat, in front of the spinal cord. It’s connected to hundreds of blood vessels, muscles, and nerves. But in addition to the body, the voice is also connected to our mind and spirit.
Did you know that the brain processes physical and emotional pain in the exact same way? "When we experience stress, grief, anxiety, or a traumatic event, we carry those emotions in our mind and throughout our body, including in the throat," explains Expressable speech-language pathologist Alexis Irazoque, MS, L/SLP. "That stress causes tension, and our breath stops flowing as freely."
The breath is to the voice as gas is to a car. The breath turns the voice on! With increased tension in the body and reduced airflow, the voice can begin to carry tension as well. When stress or tension is affecting your voice, you may have symptoms such as:
Your voice sounding strained or weak
Your voice becoming fatigued or tired more often
Difficulty projecting your voice or speaking for prolonged periods of time
How crying affects your voice
You may also notice changes in your voice during or after crying. You may feel a "lump" in your throat or have a hoarse, raspy voice. You may even temporarily lose your voice from crying. Crying is often caused by emotional distress, and it can:
Change your breathing patterns
Constrict the muscles in your larynx
Cause swelling in your vocal cords and sinuses
Expert tips for vocal hygiene. Learn how to take care of your voice, how to prevent voice problems, and when voice therapy might help.
How speech therapy can help your voice
If you’re having problems with your voice, it’s important to find a speech-language pathologist, or speech therapist, with experience in voice therapy. "A holistic and integrative approach, which focuses on your mind, body, and voice, is critical for progress in voice therapy," Irazoque says.
A typical session with a speech therapist will likely include the following:
Indirect voice therapy techniques, which teach you how to take care of your voice (called vocal hygiene) and how to lower your vocal effort
Direct voice therapy techniques, which help you learn to use your voice in a safer, healthier way
Vocal hygiene may focus on factors such as breathing patterns, resting your voice, and avoiding certain toxins and allergens. Voice therapy techniques can include a personalized vocal exercise routine that will soothe and heal your voice. "You may also learn a new way of speaking that’s more vocally efficient, which means you can speak for longer periods of time, with less vocal effort," Irazoque says.
Speech therapists know that people can hold both physical and emotional pain in their throats. Many voice therapy sessions don’t focus on the emotional aspect of the voice or include counseling, which addresses the emotions that could be at the root of the problem. But if the client feels safe doing so, it may be helpful to explore both the physical and emotional aspects of their voice disorder.
Our voices can reveal our deepest emotions. An integrative, holistic approach is highly successful in helping people heal their voice problems.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
It’s common to have a shaky voice when you’re nervous, such as during a work presentation or a difficult conversation. When you feel anxious, your breathing becomes faster and more shallow, and the muscles in your throat may tighten. These reactions can lead to a shaky voice. Learning to control and regulate your breathing can help you speak more smoothly.
Yes, anxiety can lead to vocal cord problems. Persistent stress and anxiety can cause the muscles in the throat to tighten and become more tense, which affects the quality of your voice. Ongoing stress can also lead to acid reflux, which can irritate and damage vocal cords, causing voice problems.
Stress, trauma, and emotional pain can cause tension in the body and affect how freely our breath flows. With this increased tension and reduced airflow, the voice can begin to carry tension as well. Your voice may feel tired or sound strained or weak. You may have a hard time projecting your voice or speaking for long amounts of time.
A psychogenic voice disorder is linked to psychological or emotional factors, rather than physical problems with the vocal cords. It can cause a partial or total loss of voice, called aphonia. Or it can lead to a hoarse voice, called dysphonia. A psychogenic voice disorder often appears after a stressful, traumatic, or emotionally challenging experience.
Yes, speech therapy is a helpful treatment when stress affects your voice. A speech-language pathologist can teach you vocal hygiene techniques to protect your voice, such as certain breathing patterns and vocal rest. You can also learn how to speak with less vocal effort, along with vocal exercises to soothe and heal your voice.
How Expressable Can Help
Concerned your child isn't reaching age-expected milestones? Looking for communication support from a professional? Expressable is a national online speech and occupational therapy practice serving children and adults. We treat all major areas of communication, feeding, and developmental skills, offer flexible hours including evenings and weekends, and accept most major health insurance plans. We’re proud to have earned more than 4,500 5-star reviews from our clients (4.83/5 average).
Our therapy model is centered on parent and caregiver involvement. Research proves that empowering caregivers to participate in their loved one’s therapy leads to better outcomes. That’s why we combine live, 1-on-1 speech and occupational therapy with personalized education and home practice activities for faster progress.
