Major focus area

Speech Therapy -> Voice

Short description

The accent method of voice therapy focuses on improving breathing technique to increase voice clarity. Specifically, patients are taught to use accentuated and rhythmic movements in both their pronunciations and in related body movements (Stemple, et al., 2000; Pannbacker 1998).

Long description

The accent method of voice therapy focuses on improving breathing technique to increase voice clarity. Specifically, patients are taught to use accentuated and rhythmic movements in both their pronunciations and in related body movements. Proponents of the therapy suggest that it helps relax the vocal muscles while also helping to synchronize voice production with a recognizable rhythm produced by another part of the body.

While vocal therapists practice the accent method with some degree of variation, in general treatment takes the form of a therapist asking questions to a patient in a particular rhythm – and the patient responding in that same pattern. Accent voice therapy helps patients adjust the timing and rhythm with which they breathe and accent words.

Some form of additional stimulus may be used, such as a body movement or a drum or tambourine, to help patients form a series of exaggerated syllables or words. These exercises progress to longer phrases and eventually sentences. Throughout the exercises, the accentuated rhythm used during speaking is maintained, while the body movements and other external stimulus that were used initially are reduced or eliminated (Stemple, et al., 2000; Pannbacker 1998).

Parent skilled intervention

Physiologic Voice Therapy

Reference links

• A Holistic Approach to Voice Therapy 0
  www.researchgate.net

  Author: Joseph C Stemple - Therapy approaches designed to improve the disordered voice may be equally effective when used to enhance the normal voice. A holistic approach to voice therapy is based on a continuum of voice wellness from the disordered voice to the elite voice of the healthy performer. Individuals take charge of the wellness of their voices by following good principles of vocal hygiene and exercising the vocal mechanism in a healthful manner. All voices may be improved on this continuum toward the ideal. When voice therapy techniques attend to the three subsystems of voice production, respiration, and phonation and resonance, the techniques fall into the category of holistic voice therapies. Vocal Function Exercises is one holistic voice therapy approach that has been found to be effective in improving those with voice disorders and enhancing the normal voice. This article introduces the concept of holistic voice therapy and describes the specific Vocal Function Exercise Program.