I would say you may be irritating your throat and vocal chords, probably not actually damaging. But then the irritation causes more of a sensation, and you clear again... My original pulmonologist's nurse - back when each doc had one who worked for them for years and got a lot of experience taught me the following tricks. (At the time I had bronchitis, pseudomonas, MAC, and it felt like I was coughing half the day, and clearing my throat the other half.)

Keep water with me all the time. When the urge to cough hit, swallow, take a sip of water, and see if it went away. If not, take 3-4 breaths, then huff cough 3-4 times. At first I was lucky if I could take ONE breath before trying a huff cough. Eventually (measured in months) I was able to manage, and my throat was a lot less sore.

Clearing my throat was a years long habit, and harder to break. At first I did the sip, breathe, cough as above. Even after my cough eased (over a year) I still found I habitually cleared my throat. Since I was no longer leashed to my water bottle, I needed a new strategy. So over time I learned to do this - when I get that feeling that I need to clear my throat, I swallow. If the sensation doesn't go away, I stop, take a breath or two and huff cough once or twice. It usually does the trick. I still find I clear my throat when under stress.

Sue