How to Clear Your Throat and Protect You Voice - Professional Voice Care Center

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Is mucus driving you crazy? Forceful throat-clearing can injure your vocal cords, but there are ways to take care of this problem safely and effectively. Karen Sussman, M.A., CCC, celebrity voice trainer, vocologist, and Director of the Professional Voice Care Center, shows you the best methods to clear your throat safely and keep your voice healthy.

*Disclaimer - Karen Sussman and the Professional Voice Care Center will not be held liable for any injuries that arise out of carelessness or misuse of recommended products. This Video Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Karen Sussman and the Professional Voice Care Center hereby disclaims any and all liability to any party for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of the Video Content, which is provided as is, and without warranties.*

[tinalevine]

Thank you for the helpful clearing of the voice.:)

[AmandaJYoungs]

Thank you, this is useful, actionable content, and I will make sure I don't let it go unactioned! Much appreciated. I have subscribed.

[aviiamo]

I WILL STOP STOP STOP CLEARING MY THROAT

[rubyfirefly]

Subscribed! Thank you for great tips. I've been a lifelong throat clearer just because I don't know what else to do in the moment. I'm a cantor at my church and I want to find good ways to clear my constant mucus without doing hard to my vocal chords.It shows up even while I'm singing and that's deadly. Will try all your tips and try to get new habits. Hope it helps!

[prekshapujara]

The "hurrm, ahrrm hrrrm" kind of throat clearing mostly backfires and brings in more mucus in my throat and aggravates my voice quaver in certain situations, especially when I have washed my hair or it's in a hairstyle where lots of hair are concentrated on my nape area. This is probably due to the hair's static electricity attracting the phlegm in my throat as it's a paramagnetic fluid.
Eventually I am compelled to speak through the mucus in an embarrassingly quavering voice and avoid any kind of clearing altogether due to fear of further aggravation of the problem. Light kind of clearings don't work and when I finish my talk, I need to do repeated harsh clearings. But it hurts. So I many times I still avoid clearing and let the phlegm stand in my throat This has changed my voice permanently, its now husky and heavy especially while talking in a low pitch as some phlegm as drued up

[jimwilliams]

I am a voice actor and have a hard time getting a good voice for my work. I need a good, resonant voice for reading copy and recording it. I often feel something is on the throat, even after drinking throat coat tea and snorting Flonase.

[jaspreetsingh]

Is it okay if we don't clear it at all if I have the willpower to not clear it?
Or is it good to have it cleared before singing?

[johnnydoggs]

Does this help laryngitis and do you have to be standing to do this?

[nowandaround]

I've tried all these for months and they don't work for me. I have severe allergies and the post nasal drip is non-stop even with prescription medication. Is gentle coughing at least less damaging than regular throat clearing?

At least I'm not a professional singer, but I want to get back into singing as a hobby and have been really struggling and all the phlegm isn't making it any easier. My voice was never strong to begin with. It probably would have been if I had been allowed to develop my natural voice instead of being forced to try to sing outside my range for years which I'm sure caused permanent damage. So. Much. Straining. Ironically one time when we were doing warmups and I was in the middle of my comfortable range when my teacher stopped and told us never to sing beyond that point because it would damage our voices. I also developed more bad habits and pitch problems which I didn't even notice because I started singing really quietly after repeatedly being humiliated by a teacher in front of the entire class. When I did finally notice I stopped singing. If you're a chorus/choir teacher don't assign parts based on genitalia!

[juneguts]

I'm just starting this, and it's going to be hard to break the habit.. After the air hocking I felt great, and one beat later I habitually cleared my throat as if to feel for the mucus. Oops!