Today we welcome a very special guest to the podcast: Erin Nicole Donahue, BM, MA, CCC-SLP, Voice Pathologist & Singing Voice Specialist.

Erin is a voice pathologist and singing voice specialist at the Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation (BBIVAR – in Dayton, OH) and the Professional Voice Center of Greater Cincinnati (ProVoice Center). She also works as the Clinic Manager for both Voice Centers. [Scroll down for her whole Bio!]

She talks with us about all things related to vocal health:

• What a visit to the ENT to get scoped/strobed is like
• How to find the best voice team for you
• The importance of a baseline exam
• General tips for the health of your whole voice
• Red flags to watch out for
• Why talking about your vocal health is necessary and empowering

And there’s more than we can possibly list! We are so grateful to Erin for coming to talk with us! This is an important topic that all professional voice users should have information about!

Follow Erin on Instagram

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Music from this episode: 

Basic Implosion and Thinking Music by Kevin MacLeod
Link: incompetech.com
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

My So-Called Opera Life is produced and hosted by Elise Mark and Marcelle McGuirk and is edited by Joshua Wise.

Erin’s Full Bio

Erin N. Donahue, B.M., M.A., CCC-SLP, is a voice pathologist and singing voice specialist at the Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation (BBIVAR) and the Professional Voice Center of Greater Cincinnati (ProVoice Center). She also works as the Clinic Manager for both Voice Centers. As an undergraduate student, Erin attended the University of Florida and earned degrees in Vocal Performance and Communication Sciences and Disorders. She received her Master of Arts degree in Speech Language Pathology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. During her time at Miami University, her master’s thesis focused on the prevalence of vocal pathology and reported vocal habits in incoming conservatory musical theatre students, results of which she later published in Journal of Voice and presented at The Fall Voice Conference.

Erin’s professional interests include rehabilitation of singing voice, gender affirmative voice training, and professional voice users. She is passionate about preventative voice care and optimizing voices. She frequently lectures and teaches workshops to various groups such as singers, educators, and vocal performers on the topics of best practices for maintaining optimal vocal health, vocal anatomy/physiology, and vocal pathology. Erin has also been an invited speaker at conferences focused on gender expansive singing voice on topics related to physiology of voice and gender affirmative voice training and care.

Erin has authored multiple articles related to voice for various publications including Journal of Voice, ASHA SIG-3 Perspectives, Chorus America, Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, and Voice and Speech Review. She developed a training module for graduate student clinicians on evaluation and treatment for a voice feminization client. Erin also co-authored the 2nd edition of Rating Laryngeal Videostroboscopy and Acoustic Recordings: Normal and Pathologic Samples as well as an exercise in The Vocal Athlete: Application and Techniques for the Hybrid Singer with Dr. Wendy LeBorgne. More recently, Erin contributed two chapters to Dr. Brenda Smith’s Class Voice text (in publication).  In addition to clinical work, Erin continues to perform locally at a professional level.