Voice issues / Losing my voice

That’s actually solid advice—how am I supposed to aim at that guy from Citi without missing entirely? haha 🙂 ....but what about food though?

Hey, I'm 16 and I've been dealing with some weird voice issues for about a year and a half now. Basically, whenever I'm out with friends or somewhere noisy, I just can't project—it's like nobody can hear me. My natural voice feels off, too. If I try to force it to sound deeper just to be heard, people give me these really strange looks. My normal voice is pretty thin, and I can't really shout unless I switch over to that forced deep voice. I've mentioned it to my mom a few times, but she just thinks I'm being moody and says it's nothing to worry about. I was reading online about "false puberty" or something similar... has anyone else dealt with this? Any advice would be huge.

It’s pretty much the same story over here... especially when things get loud... and I just find myself muttering under my breath to myself. -.-

Jason Nguyen8 said:Hey, I'm 16 and I've been dealing with some serious voice issues for about a year and a half now. Here's the deal: whenever I'm out with friends or in a loud place—you know, somewhere noisy—I just can't project. I can't speak up, and nobody can hear a word I say. My voice doesn't feel... natural? It’s weird. I can force my voice to sound much deeper, but then everyone gives me these strange looks—it's incredibly awkward. Normally, my voice is just really thin, and if I want to yell or even just be heard, I have to use that forced deep voice. I've brought it up to my mom a few times, but she just brushes it off, saying I'm just going through puberty and there's nothing to worry about. But I've been reading stuff online about "false puberty" or whatever it's called, and I'm looking for anyone who has dealt with something similar... or maybe someone who actually knows what's going on.

I'm dealing with the exact same thing, though I'm three years older than you.

So, does anyone actually have a solution??????????????

Hey everyone!
If anyone here has dealt with something similar, please hit me up. I’m a pro musician—three albums under my belt—and I teach at a local school too. But out of nowhere, I showed up to rehearsal and realized I couldn't hit a single note I could sing just yesterday. Honestly, I thought the guys were just messing with me by transposing the instruments mid-session. I’ve lost an entire octave. So, naturally, I started hitting up doctors. My voice isn't hoarse—I can talk totally fine—but things are weird. I even went to see Santa Claus, who’s basically the top specialist in the country for this stuff. I've been doing these therapies—one's a heavy laryngitis treatment, the other is a thinner one—but with my follow-up coming up and zero improvement, I'm starting to freak out that my singing career is over. Plus, trying to sing actually hurts my throat and chest. If anyone’s been through this, please help. Thanks in advance!

Jesse Cox85 said:Hey everyone.
I’m reaching out because if anyone here has dealt with something similar, I could really use some insight. To give you some context, I make a living through music—three albums under my belt—and I also teach at a local school. Everything seemed fine until I showed up for rehearsal the other day and realized, quite suddenly, that I couldn't hit a single note I was hitting perfectly just yesterday. At first, I actually thought the guys were playing a prank on me by transposing the instruments mid-session. But no, I’ve lost exactly one octave of range. I’ve been bouncing from specialist to specialist since. My speech is completely normal and there's no hoarseness, but the singing is gone. I even went to see Santa Claus, who is arguably the top expert in this field. I've been prescribed two different types of vocal therapies—one for the larynx and another for the folds—but as my follow-up appointment approaches and I see zero improvement, I'm starting to panic about whether I'll ever be able to perform again. Plus, trying to sing causes this sharp pain in my throat and chest. If anyone has navigated a situation like this, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

This might sound a bit out there, but it's entirely possible that you had a sudden bout of acid reflux overnight that basically scorched your vocal cords. I was actually reading somewhere on this forum that a gentleman had a nearly identical issue; he went through all sorts of specialists before they finally pinpointed it as stomach acid, and he managed to fix it with an PPI.
Did this happen to your voice first thing in the morning?

Hey everyone, I’ve been reading through some threads here and figured you guys might have some insight. Just wanted to say hi from the USA.
So, here's the deal—I'm 19, and I've been into beatboxing for about four years now. For anyone out of the loop, that’s basically vocal percussion—making beats, sounds, and mimicking instruments using nothing but your mouth. Around the time I was 16, I started getting into dubstep too. I've realized lately that this whole process absolutely trashes my vocal cords because most of the sound is coming from my throat rather than just my mouth. At first, I couldn't even go for a few seconds without it hurting like crazy—I was constantly chugging water just to cope. But after grinding through practice, I can now go for 20–30 minutes without much trouble. Though, during those intense sessions, I've actually spit up blood sometimes... honestly, I have no clue why. On top of that, my voice hasn't fully dropped yet. It cracks all the time and gets this super high-pitched squeak, which is pretty hilarious, I guess. Some people tell me it's because I'm straining my throat too hard with my beatboxing technique that my voice isn't settling, while others just say I'm not there yet—but hey, I'm 19. I'm kind of stuck. Some folks are warning me that I could lose my voice entirely if I keep this up, but man, I can't help it. It's like an addiction—I'm practicing at least 3, 4, maybe 5 hours a day, and I can't even imagine taking a break from it. If anyone has any advice, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks! 🙂

Hi there.

I’ve been dealing with this issue for quite a while now—honestly, since I was a kid.
My voice has never really had much volume or projection, which made communicating in loud environments or even just sitting in a classroom pretty difficult.
As a child, I dealt with a few bouts of tonsillitis and middle ear infections, though nothing particularly severe at the time. I'm 30 now.

I never thought much of it back then, but it still follows me today, making daily life and basic conversation a struggle.
Regarding pitch, my voice sits right in the average range for a man—not too high, not too deep—but the real issue is the intensity; it seems to drop off exponentially the longer I speak.

I haven't sought any professional medical advice yet, so I was wondering what the typical procedure looks like, what specific tests I should ask for, and roughly what the costs might be.

Are there certain exercises meant to strengthen the vocal cords? And is there any hope for correcting this—whether through non-invasive methods or something more clinical.

Thanks for your input.

jadebadger54, give it a rest already.
Just make sure you get that supplemental health insurance sorted out beforehand.

Looking at everything you've laid out, it’s totally possible you’re dealing with some kind of chronic inflammation—maybe some mucosal edema or something along those lines.
You really ought to have someone check what's going on inside your paranasal sinuses, too. If there's a constant drainage of inflammatory discharge—usually from non-infectious causes—that’s a super common culprit for the kind of stuff you're feeling.

Could be a vocal cord polyp, maybe?

Or perhaps an enlarged thyroid, like a goiter?

Any allergies acting up lately?

This has been an issue since I was thirteen—right when my voice started cracking during puberty—and honestly, it hasn’t let up. Now that I'm 24, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my voice sounds just plain weird. Whenever I’m catching up with someone I know at a local Starbucks or just walking through downtown, I catch people turning their heads to stare. I see it happening. It’s definitely not a great feeling, but what am I going to 😢