RPM Magazine
September 1997

Even though vocal cords have been seen as professional instruments since the ancient Greeks introduced theatre, the arrival of recording technology has really kicked the idea into high-gear for the modern world. This is an age, after all, where there is an unprecedented number of professional voice users, among them actors, singers, broadcasters, public speakers, who are exercising -- and bastardizing -- their vocal cords.

Enter one Dr. Brian Hands, whose multi-disciplinary balm for vocal-related problems has made him one of the most in demand voice care specialists around and a regular consultant for Livent, Mirvish Productions and the Canadian Opera Company. Hands' multi-disciplanary approach to training and maintaining a problem-free voice purports breakthrough medical, diagnostic, therapeutic and coaching resources despite tongue-twisting terms like "videostroboscopy." In fact, videostroboscopy is the major breakthrough of the technique. Initially developed back in the 1950's by German engineers, videostroboscopy allows for examination of the larynx via an audio and a visual recording done through a strobe light, which allows the vocal cords to be slowed down and enable doctors to see their individual wave motions.

"Prior to this, we would have to take someone to the hospital and put them to sleep and look at the vocal cords," explains Hands. "But now, with videostroboscopy, we can visualize the vocal cords in actual motion and have them reduced in speed in their cyclical vibratory motion."

Hands says that vocal cords vibrate in individuals anywhere from 80 cycles per second to 1000 cycles per second, speeds which far exceed observation by the human eye.

"But with use of the video strobe, we are able to see the very subtle changes in the voice production such that if a singer comes in and says, 'listen, I'm having trouble in my middle range or my high C is gone or my falsetto is not quite there,' we can actually identify the problem." he says. "And we can do that in conjunction with our singing teacher and our speech language pathologist. We have come to a point now where we can put together the performer and all the people that should be assisting this person in one room. After one examination, we are able to have the patient focus on the problem and the people who are going to provide treatment focus on the problem. We're reducing the therapy that's necessary to a minimum."

Not surprisingly, the idea has seen huge interest from the entertainment industry, especially artists and broadcasters. That interest is one of the reasons that Hands will be part of a panel discussion at this week's Canadian Country Music Week ('Basics for Building & Maintaining A Sound Voice' with Katherine Ardo, Joan Kennedy and Jamie Warren on Sunday, September 7).

"What we are planning to do essentially," says Hands, "is to talk about the do's and don'ts of voice care; the basic techniques, the effect of various environmental factors, drugs, alcohol - this type of thing - on the voice. We are also going to try and express to the audience the nature of what the vocal tract consists of, how to work it and how to make it more efficient and describe the very sophisticated way in which we can now intervene and improve the status of vocal quality."