Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

A laboratory to help people suffering from voice problems

Staff Reporter

Madras ENT Research Foundation's facility acquires new equipment from Germany

CHENNAI: If you are in the profession of singing and teaching, it is time you had your vocal cords examined, say experts in voice therapy at the Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF).

The foundation has upgraded its voice laboratory to address the need of a population suffering from voice problems.

Sound is produced using the lungs, the diaphragm and the abdomen. In ordinary people, hoarseness of voice is self-limiting but evaluation is required if the problem persists for over two weeks. Politicians, lawyers, singers and teachers should not wait for two weeks for investigation, said Jawahar Nagasundaram, head of the Department of Voice at the Foundation.

Vocalist T.N. Seshagopalan, who inaugurated the upgraded voice department on Friday, said: "To a thoroughly committed professional singer straining the vocal cord is cause for concern. They [professionals] face the consequences only after the performance." He quoted Thyagaraja kritis to explain that even music described production of voice from the "nabi." "When we have understood the theory of music and practice and the intricacies of the vocal cord, we understand its delicate structure and how much we abuse our health and voice." The voice department has acquired a German equipment called Videostroboscope, costing Rs. 14 lakh. Vocal folds are thin flaps of tissue in the larynx that constantly flutter. The stroboscope will provide a visual illusion of slowing of the vocal folds that a specialist will watch on a monitor and look for microscopic changes in the folds. The equipment helps to diagnose early vocal fold lesions.

Mohan Kameswaran, director of MERF, said the laboratory was upgraded considering that Chennai was the base for singers.

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