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Table of contents
  1. Hyperadduction
    1. What hyperadduction sounds like
    2. Causes
    3. Problems associated with hyperadduction
    4. Ways to avoid hyperadduction
    5. If you have hyperadduction problems

Hyperadduction

Don’t do hyperadduction.

Hyperadduction is when the vocal folds are pressed too firmly together. The result is a damaging - when done for too long - and grating voice quality.

What hyperadduction sounds like

Hyperaduction has a very harsh and buzzy tone, similar to high resonance vocal weight. It’s often mistaken for vocal weight. Non-hyperadducted heavy vocal weight:

Hyperadducted heavy vocal weight:

Causes

Inexhaustive list.

  • trying to get higher than is comfortable in M2
    • basically M2 screaming
  • belting with bad technique
  • yelling loudly
  • trying to artificially add vocal weight by pressed phonation (which is hyperadduction)

Problems associated with hyperadduction

These mostly come about in the long term. Doing hyperadduction for three seconds probably isn’t going to destroy your voice.

  • nodules (you don’t want this)
  • general hoarseness when not hyperadducted
  • voice pain
  • loss of closure after being hyperadducted leading to breathiness

Ways to avoid hyperadduction

  • don’t push the voice, especially in M2 or vocal weight past the point of ‘slightly fatiguing’
  • make sure you aren’t starving your voice of air and then using hyperadduction to get louder
  • avoid vocal fry when going heavier in vocal weight

If you have hyperadduction problems

  1. stop training immediately
  2. rest
  3. do very light SOVTEs such as humming, (light to the point of almost failing to maintain phonation) for at most 20 minutes a day until the hyperadduction habit is gone
  4. learn your limits and stay mostly within them - don’t push your voice to be loud or high in pitch, don’t do belting until the habit is gone