Why do you sometimes lose your voice when you have a serious cold?
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Losing your voice to the point that it’s painful or difficult to speak is actually fairly bad so you may want to consult a doctor as to why this is happening to you, if that’s why you’re asking, but I can give a short explanation as someone who has done vocal work:
Your voice is created by a set of “folds” in your larynx, which is just at the top of the part of your neck that you breathe out of. These folds are actually rather fragile and can be damaged by just yelling too loud, or in the case of colds, coughing a lot. These vocal folds work by vibrating, and can literally tear themselves apart. Singers are trained in a way to prevent this from happening, and those who were trained badly will suffer in later years. You may have heard of Adele [suffering recently from this exact problem](https://www.thelist.com/443300/the-truth-about-adeles-damaged-voice/).
The second factor of colds is that what we generally consider the common cold is actually a sinus infection. This causes your sinuses to produce way more mucus than usual, most of which drains down your throat. Some of this mucus can get into your larynx and clog up your vocal folds. If you’ve ever heard of having a frog in your throat then you know what I’m talking about.
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