Michael Bonaventura of Crown Point has a deep, distinctive, comforting voice. A voice actor, radio personality and professional DJ, his voice serves as his livelihood. He has done voiceovers on commercials for Embassy Suites, State Farm, McDonald’s, Amazon Fire TV, Dave & Buster’s, Nexium medication and Sprint.
So Bonaventura was concerned when he first noticed that he was losing his voice during a family visit in Louisville in 2018.
“A couple of days later as I was returning home, I was driving up I-65 and turned off an exit to stop at a restaurant,” Bonaventura says. “I couldn’t order off the menu. I completely lost my voice. When I returned home, I went to my family doctor, but he said I needed to see an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). I made an appointment with otolaryngologist Dennis Han, MD. He looked down my throat and told me there were nodules on my vocal cords.”
Before undergoing a procedure that could potentially alter Bonaventura’s vocal cords, Han, who is on staff at Community Hospital and St. Mary Medical Center, suggested speech therapy for vocal hyperfunction, which occurs when the muscles of the larynx work too hard when speaking. The muscles continually press or rub together, creating the nodules over time. Like Bonaventura, cheerleaders, teachers, coaches, salespersons, DJs and other people who use their voice a lot are at increased risk for hyperfunctioning vocal cords.
Speech therapy can be effective in restoring voice for those with a variety of challenges because of stroke, brain injury and Parkinson’s disease, as well as for people with vocal cord dysfunction, a condition that occurs when the vocal cords don’t open correctly.
The hospitals of Community Healthcare System: Community Hospital, Munster; St. Catherine Hospital, East Chicago; St. Mary Medical Center, Hobart and the Community Stroke & Rehabilitation Center in Crown Point offer speech therapy on an inpatient and outpatient basis for pediatric and adult patients diagnosed with speech, swallowing and vocal disorders.
“Within a week of meeting my speech therapist, Jill, and going through some exercises, she had me feeling better,” Bonaventura says. “It changed the way I talk and also made me very aware of how I am actually doing it. I take a lot of breaks now.”
Bonaventura was surprised when Han recommended speech therapy, but says, “Boy, did it ever work.”
For more information about speech and voice therapy services at Community Healthcare System, visit COMHS.org.
