Käthe helps with voice problems: ‘In corona times, home workers have started to talk louder’

Voice coach Käthe Staallekker can tell you all about the fact that your voice has an enormous influence on how you come across to others. “If you always end your sentences on high, you’re just questioning what you’re saying. You can come across as not believable.”

Some people always talk loudly, others cough all day and some have a hoarse voice all the time. Käthe finds it very interesting to find out why people display this behaviour. And all to help them get rid of their complaints. “In corona times, home workers have started to speak much louder, to make themselves understood.”

a hoarse voice

Käthe is a speech therapist and voice coach in her home practice in Palenstein, where she helps people with voice problems. Teachers, lawyers, telephonists, actors and singers and anyone who wants to further develop their voice. She worked in the theater as a musical actress and gave singing lessons. She wanted to help a student with a hoarse voice but didn’t know how. That is why she decided to take a speech therapy course.

Three fellow students

Together with two college friends, she founded The Voting House on. Käthe has her practice in Zoetermeer, Marie-Christine in Leiden and Ilse in Utrecht. “We met during the speech therapy course in Almere”, explains Käthe. “All three of us share a huge passion for singing, theater and acting. But also our fascination for the voice. By using it in the right way you feel much freer. Everyone should be heard.”

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you sound rude

Stress, talking too loudly and wrong breathing can affect your voice. “I once met a lady who was often told at work that she came across as unkind. We started working on her intonation. You can suddenly appear much friendlier by changing the emphasis.” Or a teacher who had no influence over her students: “I taught her to stand up straighter and speak more clearly. You can keep order with your voice by adding more dynamics to it.”

Corona and talking loudly

Since the pandemic, Käthe has received more people with corona complaints. “After severe COVID, they sometimes learned to breathe incorrectly again. And because of working from home, employees have started to use their voice differently. Video calling made us talk louder. This is to make you understood during an online meeting, for example in a group. The combination of incorrect posture and loud talking leads to hoarseness.”

Caught in your body

Käthe starts in her practice with a coaching conversation in which she assesses how someone’s health is going, physically and mentally. Certain complaints often affect the sound of the voice. “People with stress can unconsciously squeeze their vocal cords. This makes the voice less clear. Or if you are convinced that you are not allowed to speak up. Someone can then be trapped in the body. As a coach, my goal is to give someone the opportunity to make themselves heard again.”