Voice has been a lifelong passion for me. After years of performing as a professional opera singer across the country and teaching voice at five universities, I returned to school to pursue a career in speech-language pathology. Now I combine my singing and clinical backgrounds to work with singers and other performers who have voice injuries. My interest in voice has also led me to become active in leadership in a number of national and international voice-related organizations, and I frequently present on the topic of the singing voice at many national and international conferences. Voice is such an important part of identity for everyone, but especially for singers, for whom a voice problem can be a crisis. It’s very important to me to recognize the individual needs of each patient, and to personalize their therapy experience accordingly. I feel it is a great privilege to be able to use all my experience as a singer, voice teacher and speech pathologist in a way that helps people, and this makes my work at Duke Voice Care Center incredibly rewarding and fulfilling.
I enjoy studying how the singing voice works, especially how vocal technique is different for various styles of singing and across the lifespan. I also study the ways different types of voice disorders affect the singing voice, and have written a textbook on singing voice rehabilitation called Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation: A Practical Approach to Vocal Health and Wellness. I use the information from my research to customize treatment plans and vocal exercises for my singing patients. I collaborate with my physician and speech-pathology colleagues to provide evidence that will lead to best practices and improved patient outcomes.
View Leda Scearce's publications on PubMed
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This faculty member has no reported relationships with industry.