CINCINNATI  — A college instructor who built her life around opera never thought a condition that impacts thousands would threaten to take her singing voice.

What You Need To Know

  • Voice instructor and opera singer Jessica Rivera suddenly started getting hoarse as a result of vocal nodules 

  • Doctors warn that it's not just singers, but radio hosts, lawyers, teachers or anyone who uses their voice a lot who can be at risk 

  • Doctors say surgery can correct the problem or in Rivera's case rehabilitation

Jessica Rivera said she found her voice when she was just 2 years old.

“One of my family members recognized that and encouraged my family to have me start some kind of music lessons very early. So I started piano at 5 and voice at 9," said Rivera. 

She turned that hobby into a life-long career.

“When I put those two things together, my studying, my first opera aria, and seeing what that looked like on the big screen, I decided immediately that that's what I wanted to do," said Rivera. 

She studied opera in college, made opera albums professionally, won a grammy award and later started teaching students at Miami University in Oxford, until one day, she just couldn’t.

“I would have a little hoarseness that felt not normal. It felt scary. It felt uncertain," said Rivera. 

For her, every day without a voice is a day without work.

But that’s when Dr. Rebecca Howell at UC Health stepped in and found something.

“People know them at singer's nose or vocal nodules, which is much more common," said Howell. 

Vocal nodules are small growths, similar to a callus, that can form on the vocal cords and cause voice problems when you overuse your voice.

“This doesn't mean just professional singers. This also means doctors lawyers especially who would think of like trial lawyers, radio hosts and, you know, the other kind of forgotten group as teachers," said Howell. 

She warns that any hoarseness that lasts more than a few days or weeks or trouble swallowing should get checked to see if you need surgery to remove any nodules.

“We also have what's called a multidisciplinary clinic where patients are seen by myself, who looks at them for medical treatments, surgical treatments and a voice pathologist," said Howell. 

After being seen by the team, it turns out Rivera just needed rehab and rest to find her voice again. 

“Now, miraculously, in my pre-op appointment the day before I was supposed to have it removed, it was gone and I can only say that that was a miracle," said Rivera.