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by ladyc1987 on June 17th, 2005

ladyc1987

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How much can smoking change your singing voice?

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  • by EdMuse on January 15th, 2006

    EdMuse

    One of the greatest singers of all time, and the most recorded musician of all time, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, was a smoker. Not that I would suggest three packs a day based on this, but it can be done.

    The vocal folds are folds are sheathed when not in use, so as long as you don't speak or sing while exhaling smoke, you won't do much direct damage to them.

    The biggest effect of smoking on the singing voice is a drastic loss of lung capacity. I once knew a smoker-singer who experimented with this. She quit smoking and monitored her lung capacity by timing long notes. Within two weeks, she had literally doubled her time. After six weeks, she caved in and started smoking again, and her lung time almost immediately dropped back to what it had been before.

    The brief explanation of this is that nicotine is a sedative. It deadens the nerves which control the support musculature, and does not allow the proper use of the lungs. The effects of tar in terms of congesting the lungs are also significant, but this is a complex problem.

    The primary issue of tar in the lungs is that the nicotine deadens the cillia in the bronchioles and bronchial passages. These tiny, finger-shaped bits of tissue serve two purposes: they increase the surface area of the bronchioles, allowing more oxygen to pass through to the capillaries behind them. Under normal circumstances, they also sway gently back and forth to move the mucous and phlegm around, preventing things from getting clogged up in there. Nicotine deadens the cillia, allowing tar and phlegm to coat them. This congestion reduces lung capacity. It also reduces the body's ability to guage and react to irritation from smoke.

    In the morning, after not having had a dose of nicotine for eight hours, the cillia begin to awaken and sway again, moving all the stuff around. This is what causes "smoker's cough," the only effective cure for which, is of all things, a cigarette to deaden the cillia again. The cough, of course, irritates the vocal mechanism, and that's a problem, too.

    So, I don't recommend smoking, and if you are a singer who smokes, I do recommend quitting. Barring that, though, understanding the effects is the next best thing.

    Comments

    • Great answer

      mister_c

      by mister_c on February 22nd, 2006

    • Excellent answer... Doesnot leave anybody in doubt. I feel a strong urge to quit smoking after reading your response.\r\n

      Mukunda Haveri

      by Mukunda Haveri on July 20th, 2006

    • Bravo.

      Mrs.mezzo is a Wagnerian soprano

      by Mrs.mezzo is a Wagnerian soprano on January 7th, 2009

    • While I agree with the last half of the post, saying that the vocal chords are somehow sheathed when not in use is absolute nonsense. while it may be MORE harmful to work your vocal chords while smoking, I have no backing for this but thats irrelevant to my point, its not exposing them to any more smoke than if you were not smoking because they are constantly exposed. So dont think that you can somehow save your voice from smoke by simply not speaking while you smoke because you cant. and damage to the vocal folds from smoking I would argue is much more detrimental to your voice than the lung capacity issue , your lungs heal rather quickly after quitting smoking, edemas on the vocal folds which can be caused by smoking however dont go away and surgery can and often does have permanent effects.

      pathayes

      by pathayes on April 27th, 2009

    • Sorry I meant to say its not exposing them to any more smoke than if you were not SPEAKING because theyre constantly exposed.

      pathayes

      by pathayes on April 27th, 2009

    • Very good information in the anatomy department. On the pharm side, however, nicotine is not a sedative; it is a stimulant. If you smoke PREMIUM cigarettes (marlboro, camel, newport, etc...), thymol--an organic alcohol that relaxes muscle fibers containing a specific receptor (BETA2 found in the uterus and TRACHEA)--is a common additive in most of these brands.

      Milkman

      by Milkman on October 10th, 2009

    • no not good . No one knows who you are talking about. Very few people can get better while smoking and none of you are in that category for sure losers

      Aaron_G7547

      by Aaron_G7547 on March 5th, 2011

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