Tips on keeping a healthy voice

BALTIMORE - Many students are heading back to school, but they are not the only ones. Teachers are heading back to the classrooms as well.

The nature of their job demands lots of talking, often in loud classrooms. This means teachers can experience vocal problems.

57.7 percent of teachers report voice difficulties some time in their professional life. This rate is twice as high for teachers as for non-teachers.  18.3 percent of teachers have missed school days in the past year because of voice problems.

Tuesday on Good Morning Maryland @ 9, Sherrie Johnson sat down with Dr. Lee Akst to talk about what can be done by teachers and others to save their voices. Some of the tips included:

--limit vocal over-use or abuse as much as possible
--maintain lubrication of the vocal cords and drink water
--don't smoke
--find opportunities to rest your voice

To see the segment again, click on the video box to the left of this article.