Voice disorders can occur for any number of reasons and can severely negatively impact not only our ability to communicate and thereby participation in social interactions, but also our occupational capacity, identity and sense of self, and overall quality of life. Voice rehabilitation aims at restoring and optimising voice function to diminish limitation or impairment from voice disorders.
CVT Voice Rehabilitation is a novel approach to voice rehabilitation that takes decades worth of research and practical experience from working with professional voice users and applies it to rehabilitation of such disorders as muscle-tension dysphonia (MTD), vocal fold lesions (such as nodules, polyps, and cysts), substitutional supraglottic speech in cases of missing or severely impaired vocal folds, unilateral and bilateral vocal fold paralysis/paresis, and many more.
CVT Voice Rehabilitation techniques have been developed in collaboration with ENT doctors, Speech therapists/pathologists, voice professionals, singing teachers, and voice clinics and world-renowned hospitals. The techniques agree with anatomy, physiology, and the most current scientific discoveries and are presented in easy-to-understand exercises with a simple, yet highly effective language.
CVT Voice Rehabilitation takes its starting point in the needs, wants, and goals of the voice user. The techniques help the individual to their voice without impairment or with as little limitation as possible. The CVT Voice Rehabilitation techniques do not only get the voice back to a functional state, but to a state that meets the needs of the individual – including techniques for loudness, variation in pitch, demanding schedules, and demanding sounds (e.g. rough vocal effects).
CVT Voice Rehabilitation provides a nuanced, specific, concrete, and targeted technical framework that allows for the description and teaching of many different nuances and variations in the sound of the voice. This helps meet voicer users’ many different needs and wants (including changing pitch, changing the character of the voice, changing the density (weight) of the voice, changing the colouring of the voice, adding/removing additional effects both rough and not rough, and much more).
CVT Voice Rehabilitation helps to avoid sensations of strain, pain, and discomfort and helps develop voice function that lasts without wearing, a voice that you can trust and rely on every day, and a voice with more consistency and control. The techniques are easy to learn and work with, do not require special knowledge as a patient, and are taught in a process where the voice user is taken care of and assisted every step of the way.
CVT Voice Rehabilitation specialists can be a partner who can communicate and translate between medical, scientific, as well as professional voice users and teachers to build a bridge between different areas of expertise.
CVT Voice Rehabilitation includes theory and techniques for specialised treatments, such as:
- Supraglottic speech: the use of structures above the vocal folds as an alternative sound source inside the larynx in situations where vocal fold function is severely impaired or even completely missing
- Rehabilitation for professional voice users: the habilitation and rehabilitation that addresses the highly specific needs of performing artists (e.g. singers, actors, voice-over artists, etc.) and how to integrate these insights into clinical practice, including pre and post operative care and surgical considerations for the performing voice
- Gender affirmative care: rehabilitation for populations in transition or seeking to change the gender presentation of their voice, including not only changing pitch, but also the colour of the voice, the character of the voice, the amount of metal, degree of density, and variability and dynamic flexibility. CVI welcomes all genders, sexes, sexualities, creeds, races, and beliefs and aims at holding space for all individuals to learn techniques to express themselves in a voice that they feel satisfied with. CVI is a non-judgemental and safe space where boundaries and processes are respected, and everyone is welcome.
- Neurotrauma: rehabilitation techniques for persons with neurological damage or challenges that do not only address basic vocal function, but helps rehabilitate the speaking as close as possible to the sound of a person’s voice prior to a neurotraumatic incident
The science behind CVT Voice Rehabilitation is groundbreaking and studies have shown good results in for instance:
- Muscle-tension dysphoniapatients, where patients restored their vocal function and diminished discomfort in a short span of sessions (on average 3.5 sessions pr patient)
- Presbylarynx patients, where it was shown how CVT interventions help patients get louder and more stable sound production
- Neurorehabilitation, where CVT techniques were used in conjunction with traditional rehabilitation techniques to help patients restore the sound of their voice to how they sounded prior to their brain injury
For more information about the science and publications underpinning CVT Voice Rehabilitation, please see the following research publications:
https://pubs.asha.org/doi/abs/10.1044/2023_PERSP-23-00003
https://pilotfeasibilitystudies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40814-023-01317-y
https://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/search/publication/9160840
https://www.jvoice.org/action/doSearch?type=quicksearch&text1=aaen&field1=AllField
CVI collaborates with internationally acclaimed scientists, medical professionals, and voice professionals, and include international faculty in the two rehabilitation educations offered at the institute, including programmes for:
- Authorised CVT Teachers seeking certification in CVT Voice Rehabilitation
- Speech and Language Therapist/pathologists seeking certification in CVT Voice Rehabilitation
The CVT Voice Rehabilitation course is accredited at level 5 with NCFE and CACHE accreditation.
For more information about the programme for Authorised CVT Teachers, please see:
https://completevocalinstitute.com/cvt-voice-rehabilitation-for-authorised-cvt-teachers/
For more information about the SLT/SLP programme, please see:
https://completevocalinstitute.com/slt-slp-certification-in-cvt-voice-rehabilitation/