The next time you're in Multnomah Village, stop in at Sarah Bellum's Bakery for--as I can personally attest--a delicious cupcake or two. You will not only be indulging your sweet tooth, but also supporting people living with brain injury.  Read more in The Oregonian's recent article.

The singer and composer Pauline Viardot was extremely famous in her day, and the music for this one-act version of Cinderella is charming, graceful and very accessible.  Sung in English, this retelling of the familiar fairy tale is funny, sweet, and entertaining -- a perfect way to kick off the holiday season!

Ticket information:
http://portlandstate.universitytickets.com/user_pages/event.asp?id=1925&cid=39

In a promising first step for vocal fold replacement in the future, scientists at the University of Wisconsin have grown a functional vocal fold under laboratory conditions. Read more.

If you are interested in improving your own voice, and maintaining healthy vocal function, contact Clearly Speaking today.

Transgender men and women can offer a unique perspective in how gender impacts interpersonal relationships in our society. A recent TIME magazine article describes how transgender men in particular find they are treated differently presenting as men than they were when presenting as women. To read more, click here.

Your voice is a critical part of your personal identity. If you would like to learn to have your voice help you express yourself fully, contact Clearly Speaking today.

Voice specialists have long been concerned about the effect of inhaling vapor from e-cigarettes on the the health of the vocal cords. Now, there is evidence which suggests that nicotine itself, regardless of how it is received, can affect the developing brain. This can impact both fetal brain growth if the mother uses e-cigarettes, and adolescent brain development if the teenager vapes regularly. Changes with nicotine exposure include smaller and fewer neurons in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, with potential impacts on memory and executive functions.
The surgeon general recently issued a warning regarding the potential danger of e-cigarette use. To read the NY Times report on this topic, click here. 
​For a more in depth discussion of the potential hazards of nicotine use, including through e-cigarettes, click here​.
Avoiding smoking is just one way to protect your voice. If you would like to learn how to keep your voice happy and healthy, contact Clearly Speaking today.

Speaking in public is a skill that you can improve by practicing, and by listening to other public speakers.  Sometimes, you learn as much by noticing what doesn't work in someone's speech as by paying attention to what does.  In this article, Robert Kosara outlines some of the most common mistakes public speakers make, and offers some suggestions for how to avoid them.  Read more...

If you would like help in improving your public speaking skills, contact Clearly Speaking today.

Student athletes train hard to play their best, but may be totally unprepared to deal appropriately with the media attention that can follow athletic success.  Some schools are helping them learn how to speak in public--read more.   ​
Whether you will be facing TV cameras, a lecture engagement, or a meeting at work, if you have difficulty with speaking in public, you can learn to be more confident in any public speaking situation. To learn more, contact Clearly Speaking today.

According to a recent study, cod from different areas "speak" with different accents, and may not be able to understand fish from other areas. This can interfere with their ability to establish territories, and to reproduce. Read more.
At Clearly Speaking, we don't "speak fish," but we can help humans learn to speak English with a standard American accent.  Contact Clearly Speaking today to begin working on accent reduction to be understood the first time, every time.

Public Speaking can be intimidating, if not downright terrifying. Overcoming your fear of public speaking is not simply a matter of imagining your audience naked (which, truth be told, has always sounded more off-putting than uplifting). In this article, Alex Honeysett offers five truly useful tips for preparing to speak in public. Read more.
If you would like help implementing these strategies, or learning other public speaking techniques, contact Clearly Speaking today.

Language is constantly evolving, influenced by interactions with other languages, historical events, technological developments and simply the passage of time. It is this vitality that helps us to communicate with each other as the world changes around us. Pronunciations also change over time, as different accents and dialects migrate into the mainstream conversation. This article takes a look 50 years into the future, and predicts what sounds will change, and which might disappear altogether. Read more.
At the moment, however, TH is still a critical sound in standard American English. If you have difficulty pronouncing this sound (or any others), and don't have 50 years to wait, contact Clearly Speaking today for help with accent reduction.