If you suffer from chronic hoarseness, sore throats, or even occasional loss of voice (and you're not sick nor taking antihistamines), there are only two things that are going to solve your problem:
1. Stop talking; or
2. Learn to place your voice properly.
For most people, option #1 is no option. We all need a voice; therefore, unless you choose option #2, your vocal abuse will not only continue, but will get worse as you age.
What is Option #2? When we speak, ideally we are using our 5 resonators -- 5 cavities -- to power or to amplify our sound: the chest, the throat, the voice box, the mouth, and the nose. Since most of us are renowned for being lazy or shallow breathers, using only the upper portion of the chest for respiration, that automatically eliminates the chest as one of our resonators.
Look at it this way: your chest cavity is the largest of those 5 cavities. If you're unable to utilize the chest as your primary amplifier, your primary sounding board, then those other 4 cavities are doing all the work; hence, for many people that means vocal abuse.
(Incidentally, once you add your chest to the picture, you may discover a voice as good as that of James Earl Jones, George Clooney, or Diane Sawyer!)
Should your hoarseness or loss of voice be due to excessive yelling, once you use your chest to power your sound, you will then be able to increase your volume by means of projection instead of yelling or shouting.
In my DVD training, Voicing It!, I teach you the best techniques to protect your voice by eliminating the excessive strain on your vocal cords. There are no tricks or tips that are going to stop the hoarseness, the sore throats or the loss of voice until you learn to place your voice properly.
