May is "Better Speech and Hearing Month." It's not a cause you hear or talk about much, but it's very important because having both faculties make life much easier.
News Channel 25 went over to Baylor University where there is a clinic to help you or your kids with any speech or hearing issues. We show you how being aware of how you speak really helps you save your voice.
It sounded like a voice lesson for Rebecca Bradley on Thursday. She was holding out notes and singing into a microphone, but what she was doing was helping her with both her singing and her speaking.
"I was having some issues in my upper range just transitioning from the lower voice into the upper range," Bradley said. "They can see the frequency of my pitch and the mean of where I'm speaking."
Both are very important for the vocal performance major at Baylor University.
"I was classically trained in high school and even some in middle school so when the opportunity to get involved with opera here at Baylor, after watching some performances, I decided that would be a really awesome opportunity," Bradley said.
She decided, then, to take another opportunity at the Baylor Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic.
"We want our students, especially our music majors, to have a beautiful voice 20 years into their career just like they do now," said Jana Parker, a speech pathologist with the clinic.
To do that, Parker said the clients get a picture of their vocal cords to see what they look like, and then they start working with technology to see what their vocal cords sound like. All of that helps find and fix any current or potential problems.
"All of these things, we can give them visual feedback for that, so they can see and have better control of increasing or decreasing those different aspects of their voice," Parker said.
Parker said that can help with all voices, from singers to coaches, no matter how they sound.
"It's really important to have a healthy voice because everybody's voice should be heard," Parker said.
Parker said the clinic just started a partnership with the Baylor School of Music to work with opera students and the Baylor Department of Theater Arts to work with theater students. Parker said they will also begin one with the seminary to help pastors.
For more information on the clinic's programs, just head to its website.
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