SOVT Exercises

Therapeutic Back-pressure

Semi-occluded Vocal Tract Exercises (“SOVTs”) are a category of vocal exercises wherein we’re not releasing our breath freely and instead are “occluding” the vocal tract to create back-pressure. This effect helps to create optimal balance in vocal cord function! This type of exercise is useful for creating an even sound across the entire range, and is also very therapeutic for tired or sore voices (in fact, research has shown gentle vocalization on SOVTs to be even MORE beneficial to healing than Vocal Rest!).

These are some popular SOVT exercises:

• Lip Buzz
• Straw Singing
• Tongue Trill
• Humming on Mm or Nn
• Singing through Vvs or Zzs
• Singing on NG (“open mouthed hum”)
• Blowfish Cheeks