These common behaviors can cause serious vocal strain without people realizing it:

• Chronic throat clearing can slam the vocal folds together harshly. The resulting irritation may trigger more mucus, creating a self-reinforcing cycle
• Talking over noise often makes your vocal folds increase contact force, straining delicate tissue over time
• Dryness and irritants from alcohol, insufficient water, dry air, and reflux can bother the vocal fold mucosa. Caffeine affects people differently: moderate use is not automatically dehydrating for regular users, but coffee may worsen reflux or throat irritation for some