Iroha Tell Us About Her Recent Condition and The Day She Lost Her Voice...

[@ivanbluecool]

Get well soon iroha. You are a delight

[@benhicks9481]

Glad to hear she has some of her voice back, tough way to celebrate her anniversary the other month having lost it all.

[@bewe5473]

I would say this is the best gift for her this Christmas, because I've read that her condition can vary between 2 weeks to 2 years to recover.

[@XSpImmaLion]

Built in protection mode. This might be a blessing in disguise... depending on specifics. Not speculating on this as it doesn't help, but I have a personal case which might not be related, but it is illustrative on why people need to take a break at times. I have a childhood friend who was the talker type. He'd talk non-stop at any given opportunity. It was so much that it was kinda annoying, if I'm being honest. It was so much that he always wanted to talk over people, always wanted to take control of conversations, always bothered teachers and classmates with insistent questions and observations, all the time. Always with a bright attitude, but it gets tiring. I'm a bit older than him, but at late teens a bunch of bad stuff happened to him all at once. Failing grades, dad died suddenly after a few months battling cancer, older brother moved out, economic problems, moving out, plus a bunch of other problems that came crashing down all at once. Make things worse, I think he had a good relationship with his dad, but not so good with mom. He was pretty timid despite all the speaking. I think it was actually triggered by anxiety and feelings of inferiority plus social inadequacy. Someone or himself put it in his head that speaking all the time was the right thing to do, when it actually made things pretty awkward around him. So it was kinda self perpetuating. When all of that came crashing down he went mute for several months. I wasn't that close to him at the time, but from what I heard, his mom came home after work one day to find him just sitting on a chair in the kitchen blankly staring nowhere, completely mute. But it wasn't just going mute, his entire personality changed. More like he went somewhere else leaving an empty shell behind - he wasn't there at all. He did make all normal everyday life tasks, but displayed no emotion, didn't talk or express anything, just seemed to moved into his own world and maintain only basic interactions with everyone around him. He was diagnosed later on with schizophrenia. He slowly recovered, but not fully, and continues taking meds to this day, over a couple of decades later. Sometimes the body and mind has a way of shutting things down to prevent further damage. But it's scary stuff. It's a known fact that Holomems works and pushes waaaay too hard at times. I think it's correct to say you can't really lay blame on any single person for this, because there's likely a will from them to push harder at times, there is a contribution of the company with deals, sponsors and whatnot, plus things like listening and caring about fans, wanting to advance on personal and group projects, collabs, and then perhaps a bit of internal competition for some, looking too much at statistics, plus the isolationist nature of the job. Iroha going mute forced her to take a break one way or another. Not great and very scary to wake up one day and don't have a voice, but perhaps it's exactly what she needed at the time, not to end up in an even worse situation. Glad she's recovering though...

[@春長]

The fans part needs further emphasis because far too many fans are shirking their part of the responsibility in the "talent overworking" issue. There was a clip in which Flare stated that she wouldn't participate in HoloGTA because participating would destroy her health; and in the comments of that clip you could find 'she could spare an hour or two for it because x,y could participate'. Or that Fauna has to explain why she wouldn't participate in HoloGTA. The pressuring talents to do overstretch themselves or have to explain why they don't do x or participating in Y by the fans is absolutely there, but it is so often getting ignored as if it's somehow irrelevant in that discussion. For the most recent/upcoming version of these look no further than the upcoming Towa's more casual Spring games event and how there are ppl demanding for the more serious, must put in many hours of practice on and off stream Mario Kart Tourney instead.

[@aska5815]

This is valid, many fans concluded that it's cover's fault for putting too much work for talents since the fans care about the talents, not the company. But what if the talents insist on working & put too much efforts on anything? Can you blame them? No, they're just hardworking as ever. Can you blame the fans? No, they're just sympathetic as ever. Can you blame cover? I don't know, they had no choice but to take bunch of proposal for profits so they can grow even more, hire more staff & stabilize since they almost got sold to china this year thus why they went public. So it's a situation where you can't really blame anyone.

[@sesiohaluoleo6095]

I'm glad spending time with her childhood best friend made Iroha remember how to voice her thoughts I wish she'll make into full recovery, it doesn't have to be soon, please take her time on her pace to full recovery

[@HansenSebastian]

But isn't sooner supposed to be better...if she does something about her loss of voice?

[@Hojumuju]

It's wonderful she's making progress with recovery. I hope everything gets better for her

[@sweetpeach-l8o]

Iroha is such a sweet soul, it was heartbreaking to watch her Anniversary stream, glad it's getting better.

[@GokaiGoblin]

Ahh,, it's great to here Iroha again, and get an update on her progress. Such a sweet girl, and been through a lot. I'm relieved to hear she has great support network of people who not just know but understand her condition, and can help her through it. 👍 It's tough when things like this happen at critical moments. Sure, the graduations will have played a part on it, along with work or things at home. But as she says, it's just an unfortunate timing of all of them issues combined in that moment that can lead to unfortunate results. Hell, had that happen a few times myself..! 😅

[@Hellzabeth]

Poor Iroha, she's working so hard but you can hear her stutter and pause a lot still. I hope she regains more of her voice over time, it must be so frustrating. I wish she wouldn't blame herself. :(

[@GoodOleDFT]

Makes sense for her diagnosis to not require medication. Nervous aphonia is a mental block, not a physiological disorder. Anyway, it's good to hear Gozaru now. Despite the recovery I bet it still takes plenty of unseen effort for her to speak constantly to the internet for give or take an hour. When she vents off all the built up steam that she's not fully done with yet, she'll get better.

[@tanyadegurechaff9233]

Iroha is so precious

[@ahmad_2027]

Glad she got her voice back. So happy we got to hear her again.

[@gsh-69]

😭 gozaru chan

[@noble_wine]

Get well soon Iroha. 😢

[@gorodn009]

She is as beautiful as the day we lost her losing her voice. Glad she's ok now.

[@tommikoistinen2321]

Poor girl. 😢

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

iroha very cute. hope iroha slowly but surely recovers her cute voice and is able to return to a more regular life soon.

[@Anvica]

Felt like I was looking at Garnet from FF9 and her character development arc, glad her hidden village friends were able to support her to recovery

[@SimplyTakuma]

I understand when lot of things overlapping at the same time, that you can be mentally fully blocked and don't know how to handle it.

[@Elilymo]

she could copy her oshi .... absolute silent stream, im sure it still be fun to watch

[@Kuun0]

May nothing bad happen to her 🙏

[@zelzolina7342]

Get rest, sleep well, stay warn

[@shinmarizu]

Is there a way we can give her all the hugs we can? Because she deserves all the love we can give.

[@zulchemical]

Stay strong gozaru 😊😊 we will be by your side as always

[@MakotoTheKnight]

I got to hear Gozaru speaking a bit on Christmas, so I'm content. 😊 Hoping for her recovery no matter how that looks.

[@nashee168]

It must be hard when you're talking but the voice didn't come. But I am glad Iroha took a proper rest and break from work. She is still making a stream because she's worried about her viewers and wants to celebrate with us✨. It's a perfect Christmas when Iroha returns yesterday🎄. I hope she fully gets well soon because I want to see my cheerful oshi being cheerful again❤️

[@TallulahSoie]

Every interesting condition she seems to have. No point in speculation as to why it developed...even if I have theories. Wish her the best.

[@Ladyラヴェジャー]

Remember to Always hydrate yourself

[@chainsofscarlet9054]

Best wishes to our little tanuki.

[@warsac99]

Man that's scary. Get well soon

[@Spyduck]

It certainly is intriguing as someone said - considering that Japanese people are significant in vocalising their onomatopoeia in daily life, not just at work, it is surprising Iroha discovered her vocal loss that late. Of course, it didn't help her situation that her body was physically fine so she wouldn't notice it until the realisation really settled in.

[@Sleep1ng_Panda]

im glad she got her voice back, i really hope that she gets to take more breaks in the future.. im a lil worried. When she said she was ashamed I wish she wouldnt be, she has worked extremely hard and I hope that she doesnt take this out on herself. I mean i know we cant have another christmas, but if she planned another event "iroha mas" or ww iroha christmas celebration day, i wouldnt be complaining. Any day can be special, it doesnt have to be christmas. Over all i just hope that she feels better and that she makes sure not to push herself too hard in the future, i only wish iroha the best!

[@beraboman]

So technically its like she was playing a game with flashing lights and got a bad seizure from it. Or one day she was in a car and got into a accident and broke some bones and now she slowly recovering from it.

[@tigeryo8943]

maybe its insensitive to say this, but all of this is super intriguing. suddenly lose your voice even when youre physically fine, and you dont really realize it because your mind thinks youre still speaking? And also regaining them in the most random banter with your best friend? absolutely surreal Im really glad she is starting to get better and Im hoping for her steady recovery. but man, the human body and mind are really strange machines...

[@GoodOleDFT]

She's processing the sounds she wants to make in her head, performing most of the actions required to do it, probably even anticipating it in her mind, but one point of disconnect is failing the whole thing.

[@thatdarnskag5043]

My great-uncle had a stroke, and the resulting after-effect was that he would use the opposite adjective in most situations. Saying, for example, “a small building” when he was trying to say “a big building”. Even stranger, he would perfectly understand when people would talk to him and use the regular adjective. We’re all just meat sacs with constantly firing electrical signals, and sometimes a misfire does some weird stuff.

[@GoodOleDFT]

@@thatdarnskag5043 One of my uncles has a brother who had a stroke, and he has a similar kind of aphasia to your great-uncle: he can understand the language perfectly, both listening and reading, but when he goes to talk he can only pronounce the names of fruit. He's been doing speech exercises and now he can sometimes talk normally but with a lot of pauses, but if he stresses out, he goes right back to saying banana-orange-grape-pineapple.

[@moonboie]

I remember a vsauce video where they mentioned this study that interviewed people who lost the ability to control their hand but when asked to raise that hand they would think they were doing it. I wish I could remember the name of it but really dived into these sort of things.

[@applebumpcaster8240]

get well soon. miss gozaru!

[@ktvoid]

thats rough... hopefully suisei can help her get better

[@Okja1ONE]

This is coming from a place of medical curiosity. Is it a disconnect between her thoughts and actions(thought she responded to delivery man)? And not her being unable to speak due to her mouth/throat being injured or otherwise damaged? The human brain is very interesting.

[@xander0901]

I think it is better to think of her inability to speak as a physiological response to something she is experiencing mentally/emotionally. While this may sound pretty extreme, it is actually something we experience quite commonly. For example, your heart rate may increase in the presence of someone you like or you may start to sweat when you feel nervous. Some responses are well understood while others are still a mystery to modern medical science.

[@scharlachnachtfalter1900]

I experienced similar things on two occasions. Not like what she described I was aware that I suddenly cannot vocalise. With heightened emotion I tried to speak but cannot seem to make my thorax work, I try again and again but feel something is physically shut. It's such a strange feeling. In both instances it went away once the emotion died down in about 15-30 mins.

[@xander0901]

I’ve seen a lot of doom posting about this situation and I think there are a few things that should be emphasized. 1) Iroha said in a previous stream that she was diagnosed with psychogenic aphonia, which results in the sudden loss of the ability to speak. This is known as a “conversion disorder” in which physiological symptoms can occur without any physical origin. 2) Many people have assumed that Iroha must have been experiencing extreme stress to cause this sort of reaction, but she herself has said that she believes it to be multiple things occurring at the same time. Also, it is important to understand that the term “extreme” can mean different things for different people. 3) It is unfair for fans to assign any blame to Hololive. We are not her medical professionals, and even then only Iroha knows what she is dealing with. Fans may not realize that they are actually contributing to the situation negatively with their speculation. The most important point to remember is that Iroha has the right to pursue her own wellbeing in the way of her choosing. Observers should understand their position and respect her wishes by not spreading misinformation.

[@thatdarnskag5043]

Blaming Hololive without all the facts is unfair. However, I do think there should be some form of labour organization or union that pushes for stuff like financial support if a talent needs to take a break, or outline reasonable work hours, and stuff like that. Whether the organization provides it already or not, the increased bargaining power from the worker side of things would lead to a healthier work environment. Since I don’t know how educated the average Japanese VTuber talent/idol is on this type of stuff though, I don’t exactly see a SAG-AFTRA type thing happening in the near future.

[@cucumbermainline]

@@thatdarnskag5043 all this words but it's all about the talents. Nobody really talks about the staff that helps the talents 24/7 since people just mindlessly assume they're part of the "force that holds back the hololive talents." If fans truly advocate for worker welfare in Cover, y'all should include these unnamed staff.

[@xander0901]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@thatdarnskag5043This would actually apply to several industries in Japan. From what I understand, the idea of collective bargaining in Japan is very unfamiliar. Since you mention the SAG-AFTRA situation, I believe they sent some members over to Japan to talk with employees at various animation studios since those jobs are notoriously for poor working conditions. I don’t expect any changes overnight, but hopefully these events will help to push changes.

[@KharaChmiel]

@@thatdarnskag5043 Cover does all the stuff you are saying. They give time off from work, they will literally dragoon you into going to the doctor, they are hyper-aware that their talents are literally everything for the company. Remember Mio's hospitalization? Managers going in and out of that room daily. Biboo and Kaela have been told to stop streaming multiple times. I think that wanting a Union is not always the right thing. Ultimately, I think what Cover's doing is enough. As Iroha said, this wasn't a "company" thing or a "stress" thing, just a bunch of stuff all compiling together. I've never heard any talents bemoan the lack of caring from staff when they get sick.

[@9thCrusade]

ive seen stuff like that happen a lot in kids who were exposed to extreme stress for example abusive parents and they would lose their voice, tase or smell. in her case its probably just extreme stress from life and her work happens to be really taxing on the voice

[@everhart3039]

wait was why she lost voice?

[@ahmad_2027]

Something called Psychogenic Aphonia, there was a clip a while back of her making a silent stream telling us about her problem through words on screen.

[@MrJoker190]

I'll just remain neutral for 2025 or maybe forever since I can't expect or believe anything good anymore (NOT because of Hololive I swear)

[@spika5872]

A lot of terrible or unprecedented things happened in recent years, constant wars, assassination of a health insurance CEO, the current president pardoned his crimminal son even he said he wouldn't do it just a few days ago (abuse of power), obvious stock bubble is going to burst anytime soon, stores are still massively closing while peple are losing jobs, we found out (as expected) the employment data is not real and was made up by the US government, assassination attempt (twice) to a US presidential candidate. All of these crazy things happened in just in one or two years. This is just the USA issues, not to mention other wars and other nations have bunch of serious things going on. I am old enough to have seen many finaical crisis and downturns. Nothing like what I've seen in the recent years. Something big seems to happen. Several famous people with a decent track record of prediciting world events said that something terrible would happen in 2025, ranging from costal cities will go underater, irreversible change of the landscape as well as WW3. I know people always try to make insane predicitions but seems like many people are saying something will go off in 2025. Idk. I guess I will just die. So yea..... I jus watch streams from Holomems one day at at time. Don't worry too much.

[@Arkamui]

This is a somewhat negative point of view, bad things have always happened and will always happen in everyone's life, so if you only pay attention to the bad things in life that's what you'll live with for the rest of your days.

[@GoodOleDFT]

​@@Arkamui This. Negativity bias is a very real thing and it will eat you up from the inside like swallowing radium paint.

[@MrJoker190]

​​@@ArkamuiJokes on you, I've been suffering for 15 years : betrayal, struggle, bullying and survival in highschool years ; quit college because of extreme stress; isolation, boredom and depression of covid-19, late diagnostic of autism; jobless; progressive sensibility to heat and cold, etc... So yeah, life is complete chaos and there's no script of good and positive future. And I embrace that fucking life by accepting the chaos. So bite me.

[@KharaChmiel]

While you might be saying you are "going to stay neutral", this post is extremely negative lol. Please remember that there are 86 talents in hololive. A few have left and a few have gotten seriously sick. This is life. But there are more talents that are staying and that are currently healthy. Just looking at this isolated thing of Iroha losing her voice and going "whelp its all gone to heck" is not helpful and quite frankly just not true.