Sam Smith spoke through phone app

Singer Sam Smith. Photo / AP

British pop star Sam Smith used a speaking app on his mobile phone to communicate during three weeks of vocal rest after his throat surgery.

Smith had to cancel his tour of Australia and a slew of other shows after suffering a vocal cord haemorrhage while Down Under.

He flew to the US to undergo vocal cord surgery in May and was subsequently ordered not to speak for nearly a month.

Smith has now revealed he communicated using a special program on his phone which vocalised the words he typed.

"It was horrendous. It was so bad. But I got through and everyone's been so amazing about it... I did use my phone, where you can type in what you want to say and it'll say it for you. But it doesn't swear a lot, which is really annoying!" he told BBC Radio 1.

Smith also revealed that he has enjoyed his enforced time off, but is starting to practice his singing so he can get back on stage for his comeback show at a festival in the UK next month.

"I just went to sing and something wasn't right, something was hurting in my throat. I had vocal haemorrhages on my cords. I'd just been singing too hard for too long ... It's like a blessing in disguise to have this break, but at the same time it killed me to cancel all these shows.

"I've just been like singing in the shower and stuff. I'm just trying to take it slow. I've got two more weeks chill time. My first show is July 3 which is Thetford Forest (in England) and from then I'm back on the normal schedule."

- WENN