Hazards as an actor or vocalist

Actor or vocalists face several particular risks to their voices:

• It’s really easy to strain your voice by singing more loudly, because:
• there is no foldback,
• you misjudged the sound mixing,
• Cigarette smoke can affect your voice,
• In noisy venues, talking loudly to people before your set,
• Some kinds of food or drink can affect their voice (e.g. eating directly before a performance, dairy products),
• Dancing and other physical exertion affects your voice and breathing.

Specific steps to prevent problems:

• Do voice warm-up exercises as part of your practice routines
• Do voice practice to prevent damage

Other risks are the same as those facing musicians.

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