Free Voice Screenings on World Voice Day

World Voice Day, Fri­day, April 15, is an inter­na­tional cel­e­bra­tion to encour­age peo­ple of all ages to assess their vocal health. The theme for World Voice Day 2011 is We Share a Voice, which brings to mind the many ways the human voice links us. UNM Speech and Hear­ing Sci­ence will offer voice screen­ings in the Stu­dent Union Build­ing Alumni room from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. In addi­tion to vocal screen­ings, they will model vocal warm-ups and pro­vide chair massages.

Phyl­lis Palmer, assis­tant pro­fes­sor, Speech and Hear­ing Sci­ence, said, “The voice we share is what we cel­e­brate this World Voice Day. Indeed, the voice is at the core of what con­nects and defines human beings.”

Even an age of tex­ting, e-mail, Face­book and Twit­ter, the spo­ken word remains the pri­mary mode of com­mu­ni­ca­tion world­wide for most peo­ple; true com­mu­ni­ca­tion and not just dis­sem­i­na­tion of infor­ma­tion or media.

“Even an indi­vid­ual who fre­quently uses e-communication will have had the expe­ri­ence of need­ing the spo­ken word to clar­ify a point or resolve a con­flict that devel­oped over a mis­in­ter­preted text, e-mail or post­ing. The mutual under­stand­ing that comes through the human voice can­not be dupli­cated,” Palmer said.

Read about a voice screen­ing from last year’s event.

Media con­tact: Car­olyn Gon­za­les, 277‑5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu