Can CPAP Affect Singing?

I know this is an old post, but I have to reply. Yes, I have suffered vocal changes since using the cpap. I am a music teacher in public school and noticed vocal changes after the first year using a mask. At first they were mild. But the effect has been cumulative. My voice (both speaking and singing) cracks and breaks and my vocal range has diminished significantly. While I'm 70 years old, my voice has been very consistent over the years, until about a year of cpap use. After the second year, I decided to take a break over this past summer. It took a while, but after about six weeks of using the cpap only a couple of times a week, there was a big improvement. The hoarseness I'd been experiencing was gone, and my vocal range improved significantly, altho, I noticed my singing voice to be a big weaker than before. I think that had I continued, my strength would have returned. Unfortunately, I had to resume using the machine nightly because of tiredness and some mental fog issues. Within a few weeks, all the former symptoms returned, much to my dismay.

I sure wish there were a better way to treat apnea than the cpap.

In the nine years I have used cpap, my voice improved right away.
Thanks to getting older, not so much any more.
Since I am certain that cpap has extended my life;
I believe that Time has come back and resumed his dirty work.
One could blame cpap, but that's not really fair . . .

I haven't been able to play the Piano, very good after 14 years of XPAP use, but again no-one like my playing before XPAP! Jim

You might try rereading the dead thread again and seeing the answers given in it.

namwob7 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 31, 2019 7:31 am

Yes, I have suffered vocal changes since using the cpap.

In this forum, CPAP has been blamed for everything from vocal cords to vitiligo.

I have been using a nasal mask and started cpap last year and about 6 months after starting it my voice severely change it is awful. I sound like someone who has vocal nodules. The Dr say no it can't be due to this . He sent me to a ent who did a scope and they said no nodules or anything. No explanation for my extreme voice change. I had the apnea dr change setting to epr on and I don't know if it helped. I am so embarrassed to talk to anyone anymore and don't know what to do now. Does anyone know if this is due to the cpap. ? And how to fix it? Should I stop using this and see if it goes back to normal. ? I want to sue the dr who never warned me this could happen or Id of never started this to begin with.

Krisinua wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 28, 2020 9:26 am

I am so embarrassed to talk to anyone anymore and don't know what to do now. And how to fix it?

Remove the mask before you talk to anyone.

Seriously, with that nasal mask, you could be mouthbreathing and drying out your throat.

Since you were examined by an ENT, and he "said nothing", it could be as simple as a dry throat. But, if this were the case, the ENT should have seen some evidence.

Do you think you are mouthbreathing while using CPAP?

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 31, 2019 6:01 pm

namwob7 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 31, 2019 7:31 am

Yes, I have suffered vocal changes since using the cpap.

In this forum, CPAP has been blamed for everything from vocal cords to vitiligo.

Usually by people that are looking for support for not treating their Sleep Apnea. Jim
For the most part we here support the use of XPAP treatment.

Try singing while wearing a hearing aid that shifts pitch by only a few notes instead of full octaves.
It is called sound capture--but the programmers are tone deaf.
HORRIBLE!

I can't carry a tune in a bucket, am tone deaf and one of my vocal chords is held at mid-line permanently. No karaoke for me.

ChicagoGranny wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:18 am

Seriously, with that nasal mask, you could be mouthbreathing and drying out your throat.

Since you were examined by an ENT, and he "said nothing", it could be as simple as a dry throat. But, if this were the case, the ENT should have seen some evidence.

Do you think you are mouthbreathing while using CPAP?

I probably was breathing w mouth open the first 6 months but I've been taping it shut and its not getting any better

Any unexplained changes in the voice should be examined by a specialist.
Polyps can often be addressed if identified early.
Anything that "could" be cancer should not be dismissed.
Cancer loves being ignored.

Former professional vocalist. I still write and sing so my voice is important to me. Roughly a year after using CPAP religiously (with Humidifier), my upper register completely and inexplicably vanished. If I tried to push up into my upper register, it felt like I literally had a mechanical obstruction in my throat that caused me sharp pain, and generated no sound. This has been very disconcerting and has been going on for roughly a year. Fast forward to literally today. I left home for a 3 day trip and decided not to take my CPAP. Today driving home from the trip, I tried to sing in the car, and my voice was back, as if by magic. So needless to say, I am utterly stumped. I cant stop using the CPAP because it has completely fixed 40 years of daily Migraines, but I sure would like to know what the hell is going on here. Especially because a lot of people here aim their CPAP actually helped their voice.

Welcome to this zoo.

I guess you are living proof that we are all different.

Hang on for the fun times.

Skeptikult wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:50 pm

Former professional vocalist. I still write and sing so my voice is important to me. Roughly a year after using CPAP religiously (with Humidifier), my upper register completely and inexplicably vanished. If I tried to push up into my upper register, it felt like I literally had a mechanical obstruction in my throat that caused me sharp pain, and generated no sound. This has been very disconcerting and has been going on for roughly a year. Fast forward to literally today. I left home for a 3 day trip and decided not to take my CPAP. Today driving home from the trip, I tried to sing in the car, and my voice was back, as if by magic. So needless to say, I am utterly stumped. I cant stop using the CPAP because it has completely fixed 40 years of daily Migraines, but I sure would like to know what the hell is going on here. Especially because a lot of people here aim their CPAP actually helped their voice.

Time to make an appointment with your ENT. --IMMEDIATELY
Never ignore anything that has the slightest chance of being cancer.