This clip explains that drinking water and doing steam inhalation can help hydrate the vocal cords, but neither will “fix” a voice issue on its own. Drinking water hydrates the body indirectly because it goes down the oesophagus, behind the windpipe, while steam inhalation delivers moisture more directly since inhaled steam passes through the vocal cords on its way to the lungs. However, Christella Antoni notes that when there is vocal cord pathology such as nodules, cysts, or polyps, simply adding moisture to the area will not necessarily resolve the problem.