La voz cantada

Voice-Related Problems, Vocal and Non-Vocal Habits in Naradiya Kirtankars: A Preliminary Study

OBJECTIVE

Naradiya kirtan is a part of India's rich folk heritage. Voice demands of the kirtankar (kirtan performer) include a combination of recitation, narration, and singing. Slight to moderate deviations in their voice could hamper their public image as well as endanger their career. A preliminary study was undertaken to explore the voice problems, vocal and non-vocal habits of Naradiya kirtankars.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study design.

METHOD

A 22-item questionnaire was developed in English language and translated to Marathi language. This questionnaire was administered on 40 Naradiya kirtankars through purposive sampling. Participants included Naradiya kirtankars located in Mumbai and Pune cities with minimum of one-year training in the field and proficiency in Marathi language.

RESULTS

Statistical analysis revealed that kirtankars might be at a risk of developing voice problems. Among the kirtankars with voice problems, frequently pursued primary occupations involving extensive voice use, performed in a noisy environment, indulged in excessive talking, strained the neck muscles while voicing, impersonated voice, had reduced duration of sleep, and hearing difficulty as compared to kirtankars without voice problems.

CONCLUSION

Study findings highlight the need for dedicated efforts towards increasing the awareness among the kirtankars' about the vocal, non-vocal factors associated with voice problems and the role of voice health-care professionals in voice care.

Relationship Between Oropharyngeal Geometry and Acoustic Parameters in Singers: A Preliminary Study

OBJECTIVE

To verify possible correlations between formant and cepstral parameters and oropharyngeal geometry in singers, stratified by sex.

METHOD

Voice records and oropharyngeal measures of 31 singers - 13 females and 18 males, mean age of 28 (±5.0) years - were retrieved from a database and analyzed. The oropharyngeal geometry measures were collected with acoustic pharyngometry, and the voice records consisted of sustained vowel /Ԑ/ phonation, which were exported to Praat software and edited to obtain the formant and cepstral parameters, stratified by sex. The Pearson linear correlation test was applied to relate voice parameters to oropharyngeal geometry, at the 5% significance level; the linear regression test was used to justify the variable related to the second formant.

RESULTS

Differences between the sexes were identified only in the oral cavity length (greater in males) and pharyngeal cavity length (greater in females). There was a linear correlation between the third formant and the cepstrum in the female group. In the male group, there was a linear correlation between the cepstrum and the third and fourth formants. A positive linear correlation with up to 95% confidence was also identified between the pharyngeal cavity volume and the second formant in the female group, making it possible to estimate a regression model for the second formant (R2 = 0.70).

CONCLUSION

There are correlations between the oropharyngeal geometry and formant and cepstral parameters in relation to sex. The pharyngeal cavity volume showed the greatest correlation between females and the second formant.

Individual Differences in Singing Behavior during Childhood Predicts Language Performance during Adulthood

Research on singing and language abilities has gained considerable interest in the past decade. While several studies about singing ability and language capacity have been published, investigations on individual differences in singing behavior during childhood and its relationship to language capacity in adulthood have largely been neglected. We wanted to focus our study on whether individuals who had sung more often during childhood than their peers were also better in language and music capacity during adulthood. We used questionnaires to assess singing behavior of adults during childhood and tested them for their singing ability, their music perception skills, and their ability to perceive and pronounce unfamiliar languages. The results have revealed that the more often individuals had sung during childhood, the better their singing ability and language pronunciation skills were, while the amount of childhood singing was less predictive on music and language perception skills. We suggest that the amount of singing during childhood seems to influence the ability to sing and the ability to acquire foreign language pronunciation later in adulthood.

Clinical characteristics of singers attending a phoniatric outpatient clinic

Purpose: Studies suggest that singers are over-represented in voice clinics and present a high risk of developing voice disorders. This retrospective study aims to describe the characteristics of 78 singers consulting a phoniatrician.Methods: In their medical files, data related to age, gender, occupational status, singing training, musical style, voice complaint, diagnosis, voice-quality grading (GRBAS) and treatment were gathered.Results: The patients were mostly female singers (87%). Non-professional singers (semi-professional included) represented 64%, professional singers 25% and students of singing 11%. The majority of singers were choristers (27%) and 22% were classical-style/oratorio-style singers. Two-thirds of the population had intensive vocal activity in speech or singing. Vocal endurance, somatosensory signs and difficulties with high pitches were the most frequent symptoms. Among the patients, 79% presented with singing-voice disorders with 85% of these having vocal fold lesions. Generally, their speaking voices were preserved. Vocal-folds nodules were the most prevalent pathology (37%) followed by sulcus (26%) and voice therapy was the main treatment.Conclusions: This study emphasizes the fact that singers have specific voice complaints related to their voice usage. The high occurrence of sulcus and other congenital-lesion suspicions, unusual in the general population consulting an ENT phoniatrician, seems to be rather specific for singers in agreement with the literature.

La voz en los cantantes líricos. Protocolo para su valoración clínica y acústica

El objetivo de esta investigación es elaborar un protocolo clínico y acústico con diversas técnicas para evaluar la voz de los cantantes líricos. Se seleccionaron 18 cantantes líricos, que se consideraban sanos, clasificados como soprano, mezzosoprano, contralto, tenor, barítono y bajo. A todos se les realizó la anamnesis, el S-VHI y una serie de estudios aerodinámicos (TMF, índice s/e y cociente de fonación) y acústicos (F0, intensidad, HNR, Jitter, Shimmer, espectrograma, fonetograma y LTAS), así como una exploración clínica e instrumental estroboscópica. El 33% eran fumadores, siendo este hábito más frecuente en hombres. El S-VHI detectó 20 puntos sobre 144 posibles, puntuación relativamente alta de su grado de incapacidad. Casi la mitad obtuvieron valores fuera del rango de normalidad en el TMF, índice s/e y cociente de fonación. Las características acústicas de su voz y los rangos vocales y dinámicos estaban, en la mayoría de los casos, dentro de la normalidad. En el 55% se observó algún tipo de patología laríngea. Los cantantes deberían evitar el uso del tabaco, así como hacer revisiones frecuentes para detectar patologías laríngeas que pasan desapercibidas. Los valores aerodinámicos y acústicos muestran alteraciones con respecto a los valores normales de referencia. La presencia de vibrato y formante del cantante puede verse en el espectrograma y el LAST, así como el rango dinámico y vocal con el fonetograma. El uso del protocolo clínico y acústico proporciona importante información que completa la obtenida por el terapeuta vocal o el profesor de técnica vocal en el análisis perceptual de la voz profesional.

Early Influence of Musical Abilities and Working Memory on Speech Imitation Abilities: Study with Pre-School Children

Musical aptitude and language talent are highly intertwined when it comes to phonetic language ability. Research on pre-school children’s musical abilities and foreign language abilities are rare but give further insights into the relationship between language and musical aptitude. We tested pre-school children’s abilities to imitate unknown languages, to remember strings of digits, to sing, to discriminate musical statements and their intrinsic (spontaneous) singing behavior (“singing-lovers versus singing nerds”). The findings revealed that having an ear for music is linked to phonetic language abilities. The results of this investigation show that a working memory capacity and phonetic aptitude are linked to high musical perception and production ability already at around the age of 5. This suggests that music and (foreign) language learning capacity may be linked from childhood on. Furthermore, the findings put emphasis on the possibility that early developed abilities may be responsible for individual differences in both linguistic and musical performances.

Potential Benefit of Singing for People with Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

There is evidence that participation in performing arts brings psychosocial benefits in the general population and in recent years there has been substantial interest in the potential therapeutic benefit of performing arts, including singing, for people with chronic medical conditions including those of neurological aetiology.

OBJECTIVE

To systematically review the existing body of evidence regarding the potential benefit of singing on clinical outcomes of people with PD.

METHODS

Seven online bibliographic databases were systematically searched in January 2016 and supplementary searches were conducted. Full-text original peer-reviewed scientific papers that investigated the potential benefit of singing on at least one of speech, functional communication, cognitive status, motor function and quality of life in human participants with PD were eligible for inclusion.

RESULTS

449 unique records were identified, 25 full-text articles were screened and seven studies included in the review. All seven studies assessed the impact of singing on speech, five found partial evidence of benefit and two found no evidence of benefit. One study assessed each of functional communication and quality of life and no significant benefit was found. No included study assessed the impact of singing on motor function or cognitive status.

CONCLUSIONS

Singing may benefit the speech of people with PD, although evidence is not unequivocal. Further research is required to assess wider benefits including on functional communication, cognitive status, motor function and quality of life. Substantial methodological limitations were identified in the existing literature. Recommendations are made for advancing the state of the literature.

A Mozart is not a Pavarotti: singers outperform instrumentalists on foreign accent imitation

Recent findings have shown that people with higher musical aptitude were also better in oral language imitation tasks. However, whether singing capacity and instrument playing contribute differently to the imitation of speech has been ignored so far. Research has just recently started to understand that instrumentalists develop quite distinct skills when compared to vocalists. In the same vein the role of the vocal motor system in language acquisition processes has poorly been investigated as most investigations (neurobiological and behavioral) favor to examine speech perception. We set out to test whether the vocal motor system can influence an ability to learn, produce and perceive new languages by contrasting instrumentalists and vocalists. Therefore, we investigated 96 participants, 27 instrumentalists, 33 vocalists and 36 non-musicians/non-singers. They were tested for their abilities to imitate foreign speech: unknown language (Hindi), second language (English) and their musical aptitude. Results revealed that both instrumentalists and vocalists have a higher ability to imitate unintelligible speech and foreign accents than non-musicians/non-singers. Within the musician group, vocalists outperformed instrumentalists significantly.

CONCLUSION

First, adaptive plasticity for speech imitation is not reliant on audition alone but also on vocal-motor induced processes. Second, vocal flexibility of singers goes together with higher speech imitation aptitude. Third, vocal motor training, as of singers, may speed up foreign language acquisition processes.