This article was originally written in Turkish and has been translated into English with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The translation may contain errors; the original Turkish version is the authoritative text.
Our voice, which holds an important place in our lives and is a very important part of our personality, has many enemies. The most important of these are air pollution and smoking.
Because my father was a civil servant working in our capital, Ankara, we lived in that city during my middle and high school years (1970–1973). At that time, coke and lignite coal were used for heating in winter all over Turkey. When we woke up in the morning, and in the evening as people returned home, Ankara was covered by a thick layer of smoke and fog; when we breathed in this air, our lungs burned. When we came home and washed our faces, the water ran pitch black. And every time we spat, the spit was black too. Because of the soot settling on the vocal muscles, our voices either became hoarse or sounded bad. When the exhaust fumes from vehicles were added to this pollution in our lungs, they could not do their job and we coughed frequently. Today, with natural gas now used in many parts of Turkey, we breathe relatively cleaner air in our cities and towns, above all in Ankara. Exhaust gas, however, continues to be a problem as far as air pollution is concerned.
A healthy nose responds to unusual factors with slight secretions and changes in its blood vessels, and the person usually does not notice. However, dusty environments, gases such as sulphur dioxide and changes in temperature can cause excessive reactions even in a normal nose. The nose starts to run, it swells, and bouts of sneezing begin. The symptoms are not only related to harmful substances in the air; some people’s nasal mucosa can be over-sensitive. The factors that cause air pollution can even trigger an asthma attack. That is why we need to protect the organs that affect our speaking and singing. So avoiding polluted air, our chief enemy, should be a primary goal, especially for people who earn their living with their voice.
Another enemy is smoking. Tobacco contains 4,700 substances, 43 of which are carcinogenic. In addition, the toxins in cigarette smoke damage the DNA of lung cells and speed up the rate at which cells divide, leading to the formation of tumours. Smoking is responsible for 85 per cent of lung cancers, and it also causes cancers of the mouth, stomach, pharynx, larynx, cervix, pancreas, urinary tract, bladder and large intestine.
Passive smokers carry risks equivalent to those of smokers. In some enclosed spaces, seating smokers and non-smokers in separate areas does not reduce the level of pollution in the air very much, because air currents spread the smoke throughout the space. Moreover, 75 per cent of cigarette smoke is exhaled by smokers and released into the air. People exposed to heavy cigarette smoke begin to experience headaches, burning eyes, nasal congestion, sneezing, a burning throat and coughing. It has also been found that permanent changes occur in the nasal mucosa of smokers.
My dear readers, in the article above I have tried to explain how much harm air pollution and smoking do, above all to our health, and also to our voice and the organs connected with it. To this we can also add temperature differences between hot and cold environments, changes in the weather, and very hot or very cold food and drink.
To protect our voice, the mirror of our personality, and to be able to use it for many years, let us please take care of our health as best we can.