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As a professional singer, it takes a good deal of courage—and a smidge of soul-searching—to acknowledge that a vocal issue might require medical examination. After all, what is a spinto tenor without a high C? A coloratura soprano without fluency in the stratospheric passages of her fach? More than a means of expression, these artists’ voices are their identity.
An otolaryngologist and professor at McGill University Health Centre, Dr. Françoise Chagnon treats singers who work in both the classical and popular realms. In her teaching and clinical work, she aims to demystify beliefs about the vocal apparatus and encourage lifestyle habits that support a healthy vocal instrument. “We should stop focusing on vocal folds and start looking at the entire phonatory system instead. The potential for rehabilitation will increase,” she says.
For Chagnon, the starting point of any consultation is to understand her patients’ concerns. “Singers come to see me with very accurate internal proprioception of what is normal for them and what is not in terms of phonation,” she says. Her patients often worry about an acoustic aspect of their voice, vocal fatigue or technique. “They have tried to correct the issue with their voice teacher, their coach or on their own, and they have hit a wall,” she says.
Working as a vocal health consultant for Opéra de Montréal, Chagnon pays close attention to perceptible breaks in her patients’ speaking voices and asks to hear a recent recording of their singing voice. The comparison sometimes reveals a “discordance,” especially in younger singers. The root cause is often functional: poor use of their everyday speaking voice that may lead to disorders in singing.
The diagnosis also relies on technologies revealing the full physiology of the upper respiratory tract. The examination is carried out using a flexible laryngoscope, which allows the phonatory tract to be examined in motion, and a rigid endoscope inserted through the mouth, which provides a more precise view of the vocal folds. These tools are combined with stroboscopy, a technique that emits pulsating light to create the illusion of slow motion, making it possible to detect subtle abnormalities on the surface of the vocal folds. “That’s where we notice things that explain what singers have heard or perceived,” the specialist explains.
Treatment of the three most common problems encountered by singers—phonatory fatigue, phonatory effort and acoustic disturbances—is often carried out in collaboration with speech-language pathologists. And lifestyle hygiene plays a crucial role, Chagnon emphasizes. Rest, hydration, sleep, good nutrition and stress management are all determining factors in vocal health, because the voice remains deeply connected to the individual’s overall state—both physical and emotional.
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Français (French)
