The Amazing Nebulizer!
Weekly Teaching Tip – Feb. 2, 2015
At this time of the year, when flu cold season creates havoc with singers, mist and saline can be a good ally. Forced heated air is very drying to the vocal folds: travelers and those on the go can benefit immensely from investing in a portable hand-held nebulizer, and using it on an hourly basis. A portable nebulizer can be a singer’s best backstage-friend in dusty dressing rooms (next to their warm-up exercises that is!)
Nebulizers are inhaler devices originally used to treat asthma and allergies; they have recently become quite popular with singers, for good reason. They are a portable mister/steamer that can soothe stressed-out folds. A nebulizer providing mist along with medication or saline is a wonderful healer for the vocal folds and will help reduce vocal fold inflammation. The nebulizer converts liquid medication into a mist; singers generally use plain distilled water plus saline in the nebulizer. For asthma suffers, wheezing, coughing, and breathing issues are alleviated when the mist is combined with the correct medication and inhaled into the lungs.
The price for a nebulizer can vary from around $25 for one that probably won’t last long, to around $100-$200 for the moderately priced version, to very pricy… you can buy them on Amazon, drugstores, and medical supply places. A good saline solution is Modudose Saline Solution for Inhalation (5mL unit dose). When inhaling, breathe in deeply so the mist solution is inhaled onto the abducted vocal folds. Your voice will thank you!
Mist and saline in a portable device (some are about the size of an iphone!). A great solution to the challenges of winter for the singer!
All the best,
Tricia Grey, MM
