February 8th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips, Research
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Is whispering bad for your vocal cords? For most people, the answer is yes according to research publicized in a recent New York Times article.
In the mentioned study, out of a group of 100 patients, 69 percent exhibited increased supraglottic hyperfunction with whispered voice (i.e. it was bad for the voice.) Eighteen percent had no change and 13 percent had less severe hyperfunction.
As such, though whispering is not bad for everybody, it is for most people and as such, the safest thing to do if the vocal cords are damaged whether by infection or trauma is to rest your voice. If you have to talk, do not whisper, but rather talk in a soft voice.
The best way to think about injured vocal cords is to talk in an analogy. Laryngitis is like a badly sprained ankle. In this scenario, talking is like walking and screaming is like running. So just like you would rest the sprained ankle and not walk on it in order for it to recover as quickly as possible, you should refrain from talking in order for the laryngitis to recover as quickly as possible. Where does whispering fall in this analogy? Probably equivalent to running on a sprained ankle.
Read more about voice problems here.
REFERENCE: “Laryngeal hyperfunction during whispering: reality or myth?” J Voice. 2006 Mar;20(1):121-7.
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
February 3rd, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips, Research
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USA Today published a pretty accurate article regarding the rise of certain head and neck cancers with the increased popularity of oral sex and number of sexual partners.
The factor that creates this link is the human papillomavirus (HPV) which is associated with tonsil and tongue cancer. Alcohol and tobacco use is more highly linked with such oral cancers, but HPV does appear to be an independent risk factor.
A 2007 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that younger people with head and neck cancers who tested positive for oral HPV infection were more likely to have had multiple vaginal and oral sex partners in their lifetime. Having six or more oral sex partners over a lifetime was associated with a 3.4 times higher risk for oropharyngeal cancer — cancers of the base of the tongue, back of the throat, or tonsils. Having 26 or more vaginal-sex partners tripled the risk. The association continued to increase as the number of partners in either category increased.
Of greater concern is that “French” kissing may also potentially be a mode of transmission.
The good news (if you’re a young non-smoker diagnosed with HPV-positive tumors) is that about 85 percent of non-smoking people with HPV-positive tumors survive. That number drops to 45 or 50 percent in people who smoke and are HPV-negative. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
