Great, but when most people say breathe they mean moving air in and out of your lungs. They aren't breaking out the pulse oximeter to check if someone is getting sufficient oxygen for respiration. I think this seems to come from a misunderstanding of what the lay person means when they say breathing and confusing that with respiration.

Vocal chords require airflow to make noise, the only source of sustained airflow is from the lings, so if there's enough airflow to talk normally then you are breathing by any basic measure. Any respiratory problems after that don't count as "can't breathe" but are a separate issue.