How do our voices work and what happens when they don’t?
A Conversation with Dr. Deirdre Michael, Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and Co-Founder of the Lions Voice Clinic at The University of Minnesota
In September 2023, I sat down with Dr. Deirdre Michael to talk about how our voices work and what happens when they don’t.
We discuss the relationship between voice and identity, voice and self-worth, and voice disorders and depression. We also talk about a book called This Is Your Voice by John Colapinto. And Dr. Michael tells me her story of becoming an SLP because of struggles she had with her own voice as an opera singer, which relates to the thumbnail image for the video⏤ a scene from the opera Carmen, a role Dr. Michael dreamed of performing.
The Lions Voice Clinic provides specialty care for people with voice disorders through teams of MDs and SLPs working in close collaboration for patients’ benefit.
I had been working with Dr. Michael for seven months by the time we spoke. Through voice therapy, she had taught me how to make the best sound I could with my speaking voice, despite the fact that my right vocal fold (a.k.a. vocal cord) was paralyzed. Evidence of the effectiveness of my work with her can be heard in this conversation. My speaking voice sounds normal, not hoarse, whispery, and barely intelligible as it had since the end of 2022 when Covid-19 damaged the nerve to my vocal fold.
Ironically, at the time of this interview, my right vocal fold was still fully paralyzed. But, as Dr. Michael often assured me when we were working together, the body has an amazing ability to adapt. And mine did. My right vocal fold, though unable to move, had found a tone and firmness that allowed my left vocal fold to make contact with it so that I could make more normal sound. Coupled with the tools I had learned from her in voice therapy, I could once again function in the world, speaking and being heard. It felt like a miracle.
I made a documentary film about my year of vocal fold paralysis called Diplophonia: A Diary of Voice Loss, which premiered at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival in April 2024. The film will be screened again in Minneapolis on August 24th at 4:00 p.m. an event sponsored by the Eye of the Heart Center. To register, visit: Voice and Belonging: An Immersive Film and Conversation.
The purpose of this conversation is to provide facts about the voice mixed with what it feels like to experience voice loss for an extended period of time. My hope is that others experiencing voice disorders will find it comforting, supportive, and informative. At a minimum, I want people going through voice loss to know they are not alone.