Opera Singer Nearly Loses Voice To Common, Avoidable Condition

Years of hard work are what nearly cost one North Texas woman's dreams of becoming a professional singer.

She suffered a condition that doctors say is more common than people think.

With a voice powerful enough to amplify a story through music, opera was the perfect fit for Bethany Jelinek.

"I did choir growing up. I did musical theater and the main thing that we knew is I was always loud! So when I got to SMU, opera just kind of ended up being the natural path," said Jelinek.

With constant rehearsing and performing, Jelinek went full force towards her dream, not knowing the damage happening to the very instrument she used to wow her audiences.

"There was just a place in my voice that it would crack, like, anytime I would sing, " said Jelinek.

Doctors discovered a polyp on Jelinek's vocal cords, the result of too much demand on her voice.

When conservative treatment, like taking a semester off singing didn't work, surgery became the only option.

"That injury happens to be the most common that we see in young female singers," said Lesley Childs, M.D., Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Medical Director of the Voice Center at UT Southwestern.

In a recently published study, Dr. Childs and her colleagues studied more than 400 professional singers.

They found that professional singers were more likely to undergo surgery than amateurs, and formal voice training was associated with a lower likelihood of surgery.

According to Dr. Childs, the impact of vocal cord injuries on singers is widespread.

The good news, however, is neither an injury nor vocal cord surgery means the end of a career.

"Consistently, our singers, following the rehabilitation process, often do better than they did before sustaining the injury," said Childs.

Jelinek bounced back from her surgery with a voice more powerful than before, now doing all the right things to protect her instrument.

"The biggest things are staying really hydrated, speaking in a healthy place, you know, avoiding really loud environments. So where I might have gone to a concert, and screamed or done any of that, I don't really do that anymore," said Jelinek.

Dr. Childs says good vocal health also includes strategies like avoiding excessive coughing and throat clearing.

"I see many singers who, after developing an upper respiratory infection or a cold, they keep singing through it, especially in the winter months, during Christmas time and things like that. That is a time for our singers to really try and rest their instrument to try and prevent injury," said Childs.

Jelinek is proud she is able to share the importance of voice care with young aspiring singers.

"I think it's really important to have a good team behind you because you never know what's going to happen. So you need supportive people. For me, that team was my doctor, and my therapist and my voice teacher," said Jelinek.

Another important voice care tip is hydration.

According to UT Southwestern's Clinical Center for Voice Care, hydration promotes efficient sound production and helps protects the vocal folds from injury.

Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

Humidify your room environment and avoid menthol lozenges, which can make the larynx more sensitive to irritants.

A voice overuse and misuse to protect against injury. Voice misuse includes loud talking, yelling, screaming over noise or distance, singing without a warmup, or overly aggressive singing or talking.

Coughing and throat clearing can become habitual. Swallow or sip water instead of coughing or throat clearing.

Vocal warmup and cool down are critical.

UTSW says the lifetime prevalence of a voice disorder is 30%. Smokers are five to 35 times more likely to develop laryngeal cancer than nonsmokers.