Month: September 2016

#cossuprogram second case Sister I., an organic damage solved

Sister I. entered my study program in june 2014. Sister I. had an important surgery to save her life, a thyroidectomy in october 2013. After she had problems with the voice, she could not easily speak, singing impossible. She used to sing in her convent, many times every day and also as a soloist. She had a beautiful clear and natural voice, not trained and had some stuttering when child. She had calcium levels very low and they remained low during the program and after. Now she sings again and as soloist as if she had never had any voice problem.

Here the certificates with the  diagnosis of hypomotility of the left vocal fold before logopedic treatment and still the same hypomotility after but but a good compensation gained, singing still impossible for her.

*01/28/2014 Tyrodectomy on october the 3rd 2013, since dysphonia, and slight dysphagia for liquids. Negate having other noteworthy patologies.
Fibrolaringoscopie: Normal cordal morfology. Hypomotility of left vocal fold. Inadequate compensation of the contralateral  fold. Normal respiratory spaces. No smoking.  Require a tenseabductive phoniatric treatment.   

After logopedy * 06/06/2014 At current control it is confirmed the situation of hypomotility of the left vocal fold, good compensation of contralateral fold

It confirms the hypomotility of the left vocal folds but now a good compensation of the other side. She had very low calcium level from the operation till several months after the last certificate you found at the end.

Sister I
Sister I. certificato-ipomobilita-privacy

After #cossuprogram. During she could get back singing every day and in some Those are her vocal folds in photo and stroboscopy after nine months since we stopped our work. No maintainance exercises, no further therapies. As nothing has never happened to the left fold. The certificate confirms that
* Fiber optic laryngoscopy: True vocal folds normal in morphology, slight hypomotility of the right vocal folds, slight hypertrophy in the posterior closure as for  suspected reflux. Stroboscopy: regular vibration, simmetrical and of normal amplitude.  

And since our work Sister I. sings every day and again as a soloist as before the surgery. In may 2017 Sister I. wrote me that she had been the soloist of the Litany of the Saints during a Solemn Profession in the Basilique of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola (Assisi). As nothing never happened to her left vocal fold, joy.

suor-i-07122015-privacy_20151207_163547-1

We could make the left fold work again after three weeks and in the video is her voice the first meeting and after 5 weeks. Professionals will hear that there is a substantial difference, even if in a subtle way since it has to get some training back after one year and a half of hypomotility. You can hear the gain in the ring, a little glow on the sound, a more clear timbre that starts appearing. This to me is a truly important sign and telling me that the vocal folds start having a correct activity, I know it is the start of having after just to make the chord being trained. She could sing in a little celebration of Sandro Pertini Hospital one month after the end of the program.

by Lucia Cossu

#cossuprogram third case M. 7 years old

M. is a 7 years old boy who entered my three months study program.

 

Those are his vocal folds in November 2015 and a week before we started my program. Kissing nodules, hematoma, deeply dysphonic, stuttering, he used rarely his voice to express himself and had just a couple of burst of shouting to his brother; three years of logopedic treatment with no significant results.

 

In the video shown below his sound at our third meeting and after a couple of months.  At the end of the video you can hear him one year after the end of our work that give an idea of his speaking voice and the clearness he reached with no further exercises (it is usual in my experience that when we correct the vocal gesture the sound will have a year to really change in timbre and density).

 

  • He was a not easy student, comprehensible seen the difficulty of communication and the age. He never made exercises at home and for his age sessions were of half an hour. It has been enough. He refused to the after program stroboscopy so we do not know the chords functionality at that moment and we will make with the sound, the easiness and not straining and the same with no therapy or interventions of one year after. And especially the best for him and to forget completely the speaking difficult start.  During the program some fear and anxiety towards the speech failure was reduced and not felt as preminent, as before our work, he truly enjoyed his theatre performance at school and said his phrases with no problems. You can see that the singing sound is not really good (but to reach a very good sound it is required a longer time since in my experience for another year you hear the sound of how vocal folds have been treated previously and then the adaptation arrive to a point to show and proper sound really appears), but you start hearing the different registers and the copertura and vocal abduction instead of air and that the singing order is simple and direct as in not patological voices. The speaking voice is clear and easy. Enjoy a little boy who can speak with less fear of failure, enjoy his theatre course and sing with great margin of improvement. And after one year he is stable and still gaining ring and easiness in the voice.
by Lucia Cossu