A dream vacation to Bermuda for a Canadian visitor turned into a five-year nightmare.

For Walter Kresovic of Toronto is convinced he so badly strained his voice shouting over the buzz of his livery cycle engine, he severely damaged his vocal chords.

And since his 1990 holiday, Mr. Kresovic has been fighting to regain his full power of speech -- including undergoing several operations.

But yesterday a top Bermudian doctor said allegations that holiday cycle-riding wrecked Mr. Kresovic's voice were "ludicrous.'' Dr. Jonathan Murray -- ear, nose and throat consultant at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital -- said Mr. Kresovic most likely already had an underlying problem.

And he pointed out: "Everybody in Bermuda does that all the time and not everybody goes on to develop these problems.

"He may have strained his throat here -- but I suspect he had got into bad habits earlier on.

"I don't honestly think you can blame a bike for something like this.'' Mr. Kresovic, a 39-year-old engineering and environmental consultant, has undergone four operations on his strained vocal chords and intensive speech therapy.

Still sounding husky, strained and faint, he said: "My voice is so much better than it was a year ago, although I'll probably never be able to do what I used to do.'' A report in a Canadian newspaper said Mr. Kresovic had yelled so much as he rode around Bermuda, he had developed nodules on his vocal chords.

Mr. Kresovic said: "If you've never experienced this, you can't imagine what it's been like. Just the little things -- you can't go to a drive-through window at McDonald's because they can't hear you. I always felt that I had a good powerful voice but it just went. It becomes very hard to function in a group, a discussion. You lose all your self-confidence and it leaves you miserable. It's like you've lost your identity. I never realised it before, but you're voice is who you are.'' Speech pathologist Bonnie Mann of Toronto's Vox Cura Clinic -- who has been treating Mr. Kresovic since 1996 -- said what happened to him was like getting a callus on a finger throught holding a pen too tight.