03 9416 0633

VOICE MEDICINE AUSTRALIA

Category: News

Voice in the Newsroom: Prevention, Vocal Health and Recovery

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This VMA Connect webinar features Brazilian speech-language pathologist Deborah Feijó, a specialist in professional voice and communication for journalists, broadcasters and television presenters. Drawing on her experience supporting vocal health at TV Globo, Deborah will discuss how broadcast professionals can prevent vocal strain, maintain vocal health in high-pressure newsroom environments, and recover when vocal difficulties occur. The session is aimed at speech pathologists and others working with professional voice users, offering practical, evidence-informed strategies for assessment, prevention, sustainable voice use and rehabilitation.

Event: VMA Connect Webinar
Presenter: Deborah Feijó
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Topic: Voice in the Newsroom: Prevention, Vocal Health and Recovery

Date/time: Saturday, September 5th, 9.30am AEST

Cost:

  • Free to VMA+ and VMA Connect members
  • $25 for non-members

About Deborah Feijó:
Deborah Feijó is a Brazilian speech-language pathologist specialising in voice and professional communication. She has extensive experience working with journalists, broadcasters and television presenters. She has worked closely with TV Globo, Brazil’s largest broadcaster and one of the world’s largest media networks, supporting the vocal health, communication and performance of journalism professionals under the intense demands of live daily broadcast.

Her work focuses on prevention and management of vocal difficulties, particularly developing an efficient, natural and sustainable professional voice that can withstand the demands of working in front of the camera. She is also co-author of Voz e Corpo na TV: a fonoaudiologia a serviço da comunicação.

Professional and association roles:

  • President of the Brazilian Chapter of The Voice Foundation (USA)
  • Member of The Voice Foundation and reviewer for the Journal of Voice
  • Fellow of the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research, Philadelphia, under Dr Robert Sataloff — the only Brazilian to complete an extended fellowship at the institute
  • Professor in the Professional Voice specialisation course at the Centro de Estudos da Voz, São Paulo
  • Holder of a Certificate of Recognition from the Voice Department of the Brazilian Society of Speech-Language Pathology

Opportunity statement:
This webinar is presented as a rare opportunity to learn from a specialist trusted by one of the most prestigious newsrooms in the world.

Deborah will share strategies used with elite broadcast professionals to prevent vocal strain, protect vocal health under pressure from deadlines and live reporting, and recover effectively when vocal issues arise.

What attendees will take away:

  • Practical strategies for assessing and managing the vocal demands of professional broadcast voice users
  • Evidence-informed techniques for preventing vocal strain and fatigue in high-frequency, high-pressure speaking environments
  • Approaches to building an efficient, natural and sustainable voice for clients with sustained professional voice use
  • Insight into rehabilitation and recovery pathways for occupational voice-related vocal difficulties
  • A behind-the-scenes look at applying voice science in a major broadcast newsroom and how these principles translate to other professional voice populations

Registration:
Email: connect@voicemedicine.au

Date/time: Saturday, September 5th, 9.30am AEST

Cost:

  • Free to VMA+ and VMA Connect members
  • $25 for non-members

About Deborah Feijó:
Deborah Feijó is a Brazilian speech-language pathologist specialising in voice and professional communication. She has extensive experience working with journalists, broadcasters and television presenters. She has worked closely with TV Globo, Brazil’s largest broadcaster and one of the world’s largest media networks, supporting the vocal health, communication and performance of journalism professionals under the intense demands of live daily broadcast.

Her work focuses on prevention and management of vocal difficulties, particularly developing an efficient, natural and sustainable professional voice that can withstand the demands of working in front of the camera. She is also co-author of Voz e Corpo na TV: a fonoaudiologia a serviço da comunicação.

Professional and association roles:

  • President of the Brazilian Chapter of The Voice Foundation (USA)
  • Member of The Voice Foundation and reviewer for the Journal of Voice
  • Fellow of the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research, Philadelphia, under Dr Robert Sataloff — the only Brazilian to complete an extended fellowship at the institute
  • Professor in the Professional Voice specialisation course at the Centro de Estudos da Voz, São Paulo
  • Holder of a Certificate of Recognition from the Voice Department of the Brazilian Society of Speech-Language Pathology

Opportunity statement:
This webinar is presented as a rare opportunity to learn from a specialist trusted by one of the most prestigious newsrooms in the world.

Deborah will share strategies used with elite broadcast professionals to prevent vocal strain, protect vocal health under pressure from deadlines and live reporting, and recover effectively when vocal issues arise.

What attendees will take away:

  • Practical strategies for assessing and managing the vocal demands of professional broadcast voice users
  • Evidence-informed techniques for preventing vocal strain and fatigue in high-frequency, high-pressure speaking environments
  • Approaches to building an efficient, natural and sustainable voice for clients with sustained professional voice use
  • Insight into rehabilitation and recovery pathways for occupational voice-related vocal difficulties
  • A behind-the-scenes look at applying voice science in a major broadcast newsroom and how these principles translate to other professional voice populations

Registration:
Email: connect@voicemedicine.au

VOICE CONNECTIONS: From assessment to therapy in action

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Facilitated by two of the Green Girls: Debbie Phyland & Meaghan Sullivan

DATE: Friday 20/2/2026, 9–4pm
VENUE: Brisbane Powerhouse

COST: All food included

Non-VMA Connect Member $410 GST included
VMA Connect- basic member $380 GST included
VMA Connect+ Plus Member $350 GST included 

RSVP: connect@voicemedicine.au by February 2, 2026

If you have any additional queries, please do not hesitate to contact us via this email or phone our admin team on 03 9416 0633.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

This interactive, post-basic workshop aims to sharpen our thinking and problem-solving as voice clinicians, helping us confidently navigate complex voice presentations. Instead of focusing on set techniques, we explore clinical reasoning, physiological interpretation, and real-world decision-making.

Through hands-on case studies, we interpret perceptual, aerodynamic, and laryngeal findings to guide clear, targeted management decisions—and see how what happens in the room can subtly shift interpretation and change therapy direction.

A highlight of the workshop is the opportunity to observe therapy in action / from recordings, bringing the connection between assessment and intervention to light, unpacking the rationale for our work, and showing how clinical decisions unfold in real time.

Engaging, practical, and discussion-driven, this workshop aims to move us all beyond protocols toward flexible, individualised, and defensible voice care.

A Chat with Physiotherapist – Pip Windsor

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ONLINE WEBINAR with physiotherapist PipWindsor
Breathing Dysfunction

In this session…
We will be ‘Thinking Outside The Lung’

  • The 3 dimensions of breathing– what is normal?
  • What is dysfunctional?
  • How does dysfunctional breathing develop and how does it present?
  • How do we treat it?
  • How do we work together?–Bottom up/top down approaches
  • Breathing myths–are we helping?

DATE: Tuesday 30 September, 7:30pm AEST
VENUE: Zoom Link is provided on RSVP
COST:  VMA+ Members: FREE
VMA Connect Members: FREE
Non-Member: $40

RSVP: connect@voicemedicine.au

Payment Details: Voice Medicine Australia
BSB: 063138
AccountNumber: 10904906

ABOUT PIP

Pip’s career began with an interest in respiratory care and musculoskeletal physiotherapy, working in the NHS in England, with a special focus emerging in 1997 when she first encountered patients with Breathing Pattern Disorders at Waitakere Hospital in New Zealand.

This discovery led to eight years contributing to the development of the UK’s Breathing Pattern Disorders special interest group, before establishing Australia’s first dedicated breathing disorders clinic in Perth.

Pip is a Bradcliff Method Practitioner and teaches on the Level 1 and 2 online courses, which is reaching a growing number of physios worldwide.

Pip sees patients of all ages, with unexplained or disproportionate breathlessness, exercise-induced breathing difficulties, anxiety or just the curious person who has tried breath-work with varying success and is interested in finding out more.

The covid epidemic brought breathing well and truly into the forefront of awareness and has accelerated people’s interest in all things breath-work. Allied health professionals are well placed to bring a safe and evidence-based approach to those with
breathing dysfunctions and in some cases busting a few myths on the subject of breathing!

A chat with Dr. Christine Sapienza

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VMAConnect hosts . . .
Online Webinar:
VOICE is more than EMST
A chat with Dr Christine Sapienza

DATE: Thursday 10th July, 7:30pm AEST
VENUE: Zoom Link is provided on RSVP
COST:
VMA+ Members: FREE
VMAConnect Members: FREE
Non-Member: $50

Voice Medicine Australia
BSB: 063 138
Account Number: 10904906

RSVP: connect@voicemedicine.au

Dr Christine Sapienza
Speech Pathologist – PhD, CCC–SLP

Dr. Christine Sapienza is a distinguished academic and clinical professional whose career spans over three decades in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders. As a highly respected scholar, mentor, speech-language pathologist, and innovator, Dr. Sapienza’s contributions to both academic research and clinical practice have been transformative, particularly in the areas of speech pathology and the development of tools for improving respiratory and speech function.

Dr. Sapienza’s scholarship focused particularly in the area of respiratory muscle strength and its relation to breathing, voice, and airway management. Her research advanced both theoretical frameworks and practical interventions. Her publications in peer-reviewed journals have been influential, and her work is frequently cited in the field.

Dr. Sapienza’s research contributions also extended into the development of clinical tools, the most notable of which is the Expiratory Muscle Strength Trainer (EMST), a device she co-invented. The EMST 150 is a portable device designed to strengthen the expiratory muscles, which play a crucial role in both respiratory function and speech production. This device has had a profound impact on patients with respiratory impairments, neurological disorders, and voice dysfunctions, providing a targeted, evidence-based therapy that has improved countless individuals’ speech and overall health. The EMST 150 continues to be widely used in clinical settings across the globe.

Join Us at the IALP Congress 2025 in Malta!

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The International Association of Communication Sciences and Disorders (IALP) Congress is set to take place in Malta in August 2025. Held every three years, this prestigious event brings together experts from around the world to share the latest advancements in speech, language, and voice sciences.

📅 Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and collaborate with global leaders in the field.

🔗 Learn more and register here: IALP Congress 2025

Working with Gender Affirming Voice with Christella Antoni

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We are thrilled to have Christella, well-recognised and highly experienced, present to us in this VMA Connect Webinar.  Christella will outline her approach to working with transgender and gender-diverse voices based on her 28 years working as a leading expert in this field.  The overview will include aspects of her work methods for working with both trans-feminine and trans-masculine individuals.  Voice modification interventions and ways of supporting clients through the process of voice change will also feature in the presentation.

DA TE: Tuesday 25th February, 7:30pm AEDST

VENUE: Zoom. Link is provided on RSVP

COST: VMA+ Members: FREE  // VMAConnect Members: FREE  //  Non-Member: $40

Voice Medicine Australia
BSB: 063138
Account Number: 10904906

RSVP: connect@voicemedicine.au

Christella Antoni is a Senior Voice Specialist Speech & Language Therapist. She specialises in a wide range of voice work from voice disorders to singing and performance voice and has worked with Oscar, BAFT A and Brit award winning performers.

Christella is the leading U.K expert in the field of transgender voice, a member of WPA TH & EPA TH, IA TVS and lecturer in transgender and gender diverse voice at University College London (UCL).

Qualifying in 1995 from UCL, Christella worked for over 20 years in U.K NHS services including 2 Lead Clinician for Voice posts. She co-ran the Joint Voice Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital with Professor Guri Sandhu. Currently, Christella works primarily in independent practice, maintaining close links with leading ENT consultants and voice practitioners nationally & internationally.

Training, resource development and supervision of SLTs forms a significant part of Christella’s work. Together with Speech Tools Limited, she devised the VoiceUp voice feminisation app.

Publications include: Pitch in transgender and gender non-conforming voice care, (2023); Voice & Speech Training for the Transgendered Patient: What the Otolaryngologist Should Know (2022) & ‘Principles of Speech & Language Therapy’ in Practical Laryngology, (2016)

Television and radio broadcasts include: This Morning, ITV; Stephen Fry’s English Delight, BBC Radio 2; The Vox Project, Hosted by Clare Balding, BBC radio 2; The Voice, (documentary); BBC4; A Voice Like Honey, hosted by Jan Ravens, BBC Radio 2

 

Prof Eric Hunter talks Occupational Voice

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OCCUPATIONAL VOICE USE: What is clinically relevant when considering the interplay of vocal effort, vocal demands, and vocal production

Guest: Prof. Eric Hunter

Dr. Eric J. Hunter is currently the department head of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa. He is a voice scientist known for his expertise in voice production and vocal health, particularly in occupational settings. He has conducted extensive research on voice production in different acoustic environments, vocal fatigue and recovery, especially among teachers. His work has had a significant impact on understanding the biomechanics of vocal fold posturing, occupational vocal health, and the effects of aging on voice production. Dr. Hunter has a master’s in physics and math from Brigham Young University, then earned his PhD from the University of Iowa. He has had positions at the National Center for Voice and Speech, the University of Utah, Michigan State Michigan State University, and the University of Iowa. He has published over 100 research papers and book chapters and is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America

THURSDAY: Thursday, 31st October 8pm AEDT

VMA Connect+ Members: FREE – VMA Connect Basic Members: FREE Non-Members: $30

RSVP: Email connect@voicemedicine.au for webinar link and payment details

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FLYER

AVA National Conference for 2024

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05 Oct 2024, 9:00 am – 06 Oct 2024, 4:30 pm

Melbourne, 131-135 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

About the event

The AVA Board is delighted to announce the AVA National Conference for 2024, to be held at Citadines on Bourke, Melbourne, on October 5th and 6th. This year’s theme, ‘Harmony in Voice – Bridging Art and Science’ is a unique opportunity to interpret and discuss the intersection between the voice as a physical phenomenon and its impact on both the arts and the artist. The human voice is uniquely physiological, psychological, biosocial, and creative. At a time when science offers a greater understanding of how the voice functions, we find ourselves at a crossroads of traditional pedagogy and practice integrated with current analysis and research. The outcome is a more advanced understanding of how we link and deliver the artistic and scientific disciplines of the voice. At this year’s conference we will investigate this dynamic field through multiple artistic and scientific perspectives.

Meet our presenters for our conference topic: ‘Paediatric Voice in Performance’ on Sunday 6th October!
Dr Debra Phyland, speech pathologist, Associate Professor at Monash University, and co-founder of Melbourne Voice Analysis Centre presents: ‘Enhancing and Maintaining Vocal Resilience in Child Performers’.  
Alessandra Giannini, voice clinician and a leader in the assessment and treatment of paediatric voice disorders, presents: ‘Children’s Hoarse Voices: Towards a Better Understanding’
Debra and Alessandra will be joined by Peter Rutherford, music director, composer, voice teacher and lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts, The University Of Melbourne.
Join us at our upcoming conference with these three amazing speakers and many more!

Register today at www.australianvoiceassociation.com/conference-register

We look forward to seeing you there!

Telehealth and voice

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At Voice Medicine Australia we have been offering online consultations for many years and found them to work extremely well and keep us all globally connected.

During this time of COVID-19 we are using virtual or online sessions for almost all voice therapy or other related speech pathology sessions, so it’s business as usual.

We will offer some limited face-to-face sessions if crucial but believe online is an ideal option for your and our safety and convenience. You can choose Skype, Zoom, Facetime or other platforms and we will talk you through set-up so we optimise the experience.

Contact info@melbvoice.com.au to arrange your online appointment and we can still keep your voice and wellbeing a top priority.