Dear Bernard,
It sounds like you are experiencing what a lot of other PWP do with their
voice. That is, diminution in volume, loudness, almost like hoarseness. One
of the things about this situation, is that we have "re-set" our own
screening ability as to intelligibility - we think we're adequately loud; but
others say "What?and Hunhh?" frequently enough to know that this is a real
phenom.
You can be assured that this has not escaped scientific investigation,
primarily in two locales - Iowa State, where resides The National Center for
the Study of the Voice, and in Denver/Boulder Colorado, by Dr. Lorraine
Ramig. She is the director of the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment Center at
the Wilbur Gould Voice Treatment Center, all a part of the Denver Center for
the Performing Arts. (I never have used the word "center" that many times
in such short a space) Dr Ramig works with treating the Parkinson voice,
almost entirely. In the last few years, she has trained speech pathologists
her methods, all over the world. The basic structure is 1 hour of speech
therapy per day, 4 days of 7 for 4 weeks. This method has helped a large
number of us PWP to retain close to our pre-Parkinson voices.
Or, alternatively, you could just have a bad cold.
Regards, Don Penny
PS A lot of your posts contain words implying urgency. Perhaps more reading
about the many little things of Parkinsons, outlook, coping, striking peace
with this injury/illness might be useful.
