Expert reveals how to keep your voice from changing as you get older

As we get older, we tend to concentrate on how to fight grey hair, ward off wrinkles, and stay fit to feel youthful. But we often forget to care for another age giveaway – our voices.

Changes can start in midlife – the muscles controlling the voice box start to thin and become laxer and more wobbly.

It means that over time we can struggle to be heard in social situations, making us feel more isolated – and more vulnerable to cold callers on the phone.

The good news is that just as we can build muscle with exercise, we can increase the strength in our voices to sound more youthful.

Last year, before her tour, Scottish singer Lulu, 76, revealed how she takes steps to keep her voice strong, saying: “I take care of my instrument… I exercise my voice, I watch my diet. All that stuff.”

In a recent interview, singer Tom Jones, now 84, also told how he keeps his voice fit, so he can continue performing, saying: “My voice is lower now. The older you get, the less control you have over your vocal chords. All you have got to do is push it harder… and I can still do that. I can still sing and I can prove it, so here it is.”

But you don’t need to be a singer to take steps to keep your voice sounding strong and confident. Here, one of the UK’s top voice experts, ear, nose and throat surgeon, Declan Costello, also known as The Voice Doctor, tells you how.

As you breathe out through your windpipe, the air passes through your voice box. This is a ring of muscle which controls two flaps in the middle connected in a V shape – called the vocal chords or folds – which open and close like curtains and vibrate.

At the same time, the surrounding muscles also adjust the length and tension of these chords, adjusting the pitch. Finally, the tongue, teeth and lips help refine this sound into noises we recognise as words.

As part of the ageing process, the rings of muscle surrounding the vocal folds become thinner, smaller and weaker. The folds also become a bit laxer, a bit like stretched elastic, so they are not held in such high tension.

This can make them sound tremulous.

“To make a clear, crisp sound, the vocal chords have to come together and close, so they can vibrate,” says laryngologist Declan. “If they stop closing off, this means air can escape making the voice sound breathy and not as loud.”

For starters, drink more water – and less coffee: To vibrate well and make a loud clear sound, the vocal chords need to be moist. They are lubricated by a saliva-like fluid made by glands in the tissues around them. So it helps to keep hydrated by sipping water regularly and drinking between six and eight glasses a day.

“Plenty of water will make sure the mucus you are making is nice and thin and lubricates the vocal folds well,” says Declan.

“But don’t drink too much coffee,” he warns. “Caffeine is a diuretic, which may end up making your vocal chords drier.”

Cut back on the spicy foods: You may love spicy foods, but did you know they can also make your voice croaky?

The windpipe – or trachea – and the food pipe (or oesophagus) are separate tubes leading to the lungs and stomach. But even a tiny drop of acid rising up close to the back of the throat is enough to make the voice box dry and irritated.

Other ways to keep your vocal muscles toned is to join a choir – or if you don’t sing – join a book group.

Also, make sure you are chatting every day. For example, you could swap online shopping for making purchases in person, so you are always out and about talking to people. If you have grandchildren, read aloud to them.

Give up smoking too. This can inflame your vocal tissues and dry them out over time.

Sing in the shower: You don’t only sound better when you sing in the shower because of the echo chamber effect. Belting out your favourite tunes while you wash will also help to keep your voice sounding more youthful.

This is because the changes in pitch involved in singing makes it like vocal gymnastics and keeps the muscles in the voice box strong and coordinated.

It’s for this reason that professional singers tend to have younger sounding speaking voices too.

But that’s not the only reason it helps, says Declan, who explains that breathing in the steam is also a good way to moisten the vocal folds and keep them working as well as they should.

If you’re a woman, consider HRT as you get older: Female sex hormones, like oestrogen, help make women’s voices sound younger by keeping the vocal folds well lubricated.

But this can change when levels start to fall during menopause, making them drier and even lowering the pitch of your voice.

According to a study in the journal Menopause, 46% of women notice changes after the change of life, including a deeper singing voice and more hoarseness.

According to Declan: “If it really starts to affect your voice and you are having other menopausal symptoms, one option is to consider hormone replacement therapy.”

Get regular dental check-ups: Here’s one more good reason to keep up your visits to the dentist.

When you lose teeth, your jawbone starts to waste away, making your mouth collapse inwards.

This makes your oral cavity smaller, so there’s less space for the sounds to reverberate. It makes it harder to articulate words.

Try a voice lift: If you’ve tried building up your voice strength, but it still sounds weak, there is another option – a surgical “voice lift”, which will make it richer and more vibrant again. This involves injecting and plumping up the vocal chords with filler injected either down the throat or through the front of the neck. This makes the two flaps thicker, closer together and vibrate better, producing a stronger voice.

But Declan adds that before you get to this point: “It’s far better to try to strengthen the voice with vocal exercises, under the supervision of a speech and language therapist.”

For more support to keep your voice healthy, go to voicedoctor.co.uk