

Resting the Voice: When the voice is hoarse, try minimizing the use of the voice for a few days.But they can’t overcome the damage that is occurring from the cigarette smoke.

Other treatments might help to minimize the hoarseness. If you have chronic vocal hoarseness and are a smoker, then the first recommendation is to focus on smoking cessation. The sooner you stop smoking, the more effective you can be in preventing long-term damage to your voice. Each time you light up a cigarette, the smoke causes more irritation – leading to an ongoing inflammation that can cause lasting damage. The vocal cords can heal quickly, but you must stop the irritation to the delicate tissue. Treatment and Prevention for Smoker’s Voice Not only does smoking affect the throat, but it can cause a domino effect of other health conditions that can affect the overall body: heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and stroke. Additionally, it’s possible that smoking could increase the risk of vocal cord hemorrhages because of blood pressure changes and circulation. Since cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the tongue and lungs, smokers have a higher risk of premature death from laryngeal cancer.Ĭhronic bronchitis and emphysema are often associated with smoking. For example, the risk of laryngeal cancer goes up in smokers. Smoking can also result in other serious illnesses that affect the throat and voice. Initially, smoking causes hoarseness, which can lead to losing your voice – or even chronic laryngitis. This ongoing damage can change the way your vocal cords work, which affects the way your voice sounds. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) calls smoking a form of vocal cord abuse because of the damage that occurs to the tissues. When the tissue heals, then the voice will be restored. The good news is that many types of voice hoarseness are reversible. Viral infection in the upper respiratory tractĪll of these causes result in irritation or inflammation in the vocal cord tissue.When the voice is hoarse, it means there is likely an underlying cause affecting the vocal cords. If there is any change in the sound of your voice, that can often fall under that category of hoarseness. Volume Variations: The loudness of the pitch is different.

