Not just sound : Supplementing the voice range profile with the singer's ownperceptions of vocal challenges

• A commercial phonetograph was complemented with a response button, such that presses resulted in marked regions in the voice range profile (VRP). This study reports the VRP data of 16 healthy female professionally trained singers (7 mezzosopranos and 9 sopranos). Subjects pressed the button to indicate sensations of vocal instability or reduced control during phonation. Each press thereby marked potential areas of difficulty. A method is presented to quantify the consistency of button use for repeated tasks. The pattern of button presses was significantly consistent within subjects. As expected, the singers pressed at the extremes of VRP contours as well as at register transitions. These results and the potential of the method for the assessment of vocal problems of singers are discussed.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik -- Medicinsk laboratorie- och mätteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering -- Medical Laboratory and Measurements Technologies (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Scenkonst (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Performing Arts (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Evaluation tool

self-perception

singing voice

voice assessment

Voice Handicap Index

phonetogram

Voice Range Profile

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AREAS

TVÄRVETENSKAPLIGA FORSKNINGSOMRÅDEN

Tal- och musikkommunikation

Speech and Music Communication

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)