Singing at Menopause: A Systematic Review with Pedagogical Implications

2021 ◽  
pp. 102986492110478
Author(s):  
Mauro B. Fiuza ◽  
Maria Luisa Sevillano ◽  
M.B. Lã Filipa
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Vocal Health ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
And Performance

Menopause is a certainty in a female singer’s life; depletion of estrogens may lead to physical, mental, and vocal symptoms. To investigate the extent to which these symptoms affect singers, a systematic literature review was carried out using eight interdisciplinary bibliographic databases. Combinations of the following key words were used: menopause, climacterium, singing, singers, and choir. From 18 studies, including three doctoral dissertations and a master’s thesis, only 10 met the inclusion criteria. The heterogeneity of study designs and methods of data collection and analysis precluded the carrying out of a meta-analysis. Instead, descriptors of symptoms affecting the voice, and vocal characteristics associated with menopause ( menopause descriptors) were categorized, and their frequency of occurrence determined, according to six types of primary dataset: (1) self-reported symptoms, (2) acoustic characteristics, (3) observations of the larynx, (4) perceptual evaluations, (5) analysis of electrolaryngographic waveform characteristics, and (6) analysis of hormone concentrations. The descriptors that occurred most frequently in the literature concerned aspects of voice production, whereas those concerning vocal health, and vocal practice and performance, were less common. Of the three subsystems that comprise the vocal instrument, the vibrating vocal folds seem to be more affected than breathing and resonance. Changes in vocal range, timbre, endurance, and vocal fold mobility occur during menopause, affecting singers’ voice quality. Some singers reported that their ability to perform was compromised, mainly due to memory lapses and lack of confidence. Maintaining regular singing and practicing semi-occluded vocal tract exercises throughout the menopausal transition seem to help singers to overcome the negative impacts of menopause on vocal performance.

Speech-Based Clinical Diagnostic Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 1439-1446
Author(s):  
Jesús Bernardino Alonso Hernández ◽  
Patricia Henríquez Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Speech Signal ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Quality Measurement ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Diagnostic Systems ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Clinical Measurements

It is possible to implement help systems for diagnosis oriented to the evaluation of the fonator system using speech signal, by means of techniques based on expert systems. The application of these techniques allows the early detection of alterations in the fonator system or the temporary evaluation of patients with certain treatment, to mention some examples. The procedure of measuring the voice quality of a speaker from a digital recording consists of quantifying different acoustic characteristics of speech, which makes it possible to compare it with certain reference patterns, identified previously by a “clinical expert”. A speech acoustic quality measurement based on an auditory assessment is very hard to assess as a comparative reference amongst different voices and different human experts carrying out the assessment or evaluation. In the current bibliography, some attempts have been made to obtain objective measures of speech quality by means of multidimensional clinical measurements based on auditory methods. Well-known examples are: GRBAS scale from Japon (Hirano, M.,1981) and its extension developed and applied in Europe (Dejonckere, P. H. Remacle, M. Fresnel-Elbaz, E. Woisard, V. Crevier- Buchman, L. Millet, B.,1996), a set of perceptual and acoustic characteristics in Sweden (Hammarberg, B. & Gauffin, J., 1995), a set of phonetics characteristics with added information about the excitement of the vocal tract. The aim of these (quality speech measurements) procedures is to obtain an objective measurement from a subjective evaluation. There exist different works in which objective measurements of speech quality obtained from a recording are proposed (Alonso J. B.,2006), (Boyanov, B & Hadjitodorov, S., 1997),(Hansen, J.H.L., Gavidia-Ceballos, L. & Kaiser, J.F., 1998),(Stefan Hadjitodorov & Petar Mitev, 2002),(Michaelis D.; Frohlich M. & Strube H. W. ,1998),(Boyanov B., Doskov D., Mitev P., Hadjitodorov S. & Teston B.,2000),(Godino-Llorente, J.I.; Aguilera-Navarro, S. & Gomez-Vilda, P. , 2000). In these works a voiced sustained sound (usually a vowel) is recorded and then used to compute speech quality measurements. The utilization of a voiced sustained sound is due to the fact that during the production of this kind of sound, the speech system uses almost all its mechanisms (glottal flow of constant air, vocal folds vibration in a continuous way, …), enabling us to detect any anomaly in these mechanisms. In these works different sets of measurements are suggested in order to quantify speech quality objectively. In all these works one important fact is revealed; it is necessary to obtain different measurements of the speech signal in order to compile the different aspects of acoustic characteristics of the speech signal.

Speech-Based Clinical Diagnostic Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 1008-1016
Author(s):  
Jesús Bernardino Alonso Hernández ◽  
Patricia Henríquez Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Speech Signal ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Quality Measurement ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Diagnostic Systems ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Clinical Measurements

It is possible to implement help systems for diagnosis oriented to the evaluation of the fonator system using speech signal, by means of techniques based on expert systems. The application of these techniques allows the early detection of alterations in the fonator system or the temporary evaluation of patients with certain treatment, to mention some examples. The procedure of measuring the voice quality of a speaker from a digital recording consists of quantifying different acoustic characteristics of speech, which makes it possible to compare it with certain reference patterns, identified previously by a “clinical expert”. A speech acoustic quality measurement based on an auditory assessment is very hard to assess as a comparative reference amongst different voices and different human experts carrying out the assessment or evaluation. In the current bibliography, some attempts have been made to obtain objective measures of speech quality by means of multidimensional clinical measurements based on auditory methods. Well-known examples are: GRBAS scale from Japon (Hirano, M.,1981) and its extension developed and applied in Europe (Dejonckere, P. H. Remacle, M. Fresnel-Elbaz, E. Woisard, V. Crevier- Buchman, L. Millet, B.,1996), a set of perceptual and acoustic characteristics in Sweden (Hammarberg, B. & Gauffin, J., 1995), a set of phonetics characteristics with added information about the excitement of the vocal tract. The aim of these (quality speech measurements) procedures is to obtain an objective measurement from a subjective evaluation. There exist different works in which objective measurements of speech quality obtained from a recording are proposed (Alonso J. B.,2006), (Boyanov, B & Hadjitodorov, S., 1997),(Hansen, J.H.L., Gavidia-Ceballos, L. & Kaiser, J.F., 1998),(Stefan Hadjitodorov & Petar Mitev, 2002),(Michaelis D.; Frohlich M. & Strube H. W. ,1998),(Boyanov B., Doskov D., Mitev P., Hadjitodorov S. & Teston B.,2000),(Godino-Llorente, J.I.; Aguilera-Navarro, S. & Gomez-Vilda, P. , 2000). In these works a voiced sustained sound (usually a vowel) is recorded and then used to compute speech quality measurements. The utilization of a voiced sustained sound is due to the fact that during the production of this kind of sound, the speech system uses almost all its mechanisms (glottal flow of constant air, vocal folds vibration in a continuous way, …), enabling us to detect any anomaly in these mechanisms. In these works different sets of measurements are suggested in order to quantify speech quality objectively. In all these works one important fact is revealed; it is necessary to obtain different measurements of the speech signal in order to compile the different aspects of acoustic characteristics of the speech signal.

The Singing Voice

2018 ◽  
pp. 116-142
Author(s):  
Johan Sundberg
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Vowel Sound ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
Voice Source ◽  
Subglottal Pressure ◽  
The Voice

The sound quality of singing is determined by three basic factors—the air pressure under the vocal folds (or the subglottal pressure), the mechanical properties of the vocal folds, and the resonance properties of the vocal tract. Subglottal pressure is controlled by the respiratory apparatus. It regulates vocal loudness and is varied with pitch in singing. Together with the mechanical properties of the folds, which are controlled by laryngeal muscles, it has a decisive influence on vocal fold vibrationswhich convert the tracheal airstream to a pulsating airflow, the voice source. The voice source determines pitch, vibrato, and register, and also the overall slope of the spectrum. The sound of the voice source is filtered by the resonances of the vocal tract, or the formants, of which the two lowest determine the vowel quality and the higher ones the personal voice quality. Timing is crucial for creating emotional expressivity; it uses an acoustic code that shows striking similarities to that used in speech. The perceived loudness of a vowel sound seems more closely related to the subglottal pressure with which it was produced than with the acoustical sound level. Some investigations of acoustical correlates of tone placement and variation of larynx height are described, as are properties that affect the perceived naturalness of synthesized singing. Finally, subglottal pressure, voice source, and formant-frequency characteristics of some non-classical styles of singing are discussed.

scholarly journals Speech therapy strategies to promote the vocal health of teachers: integrative literature review

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Rayane Medeiros dos Santos ◽  
Mylena dos Santos Cavalcante ◽  
Vanessa Fernandes de Almeida Porto ◽  
Edna Pereira Gomes de Morais
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Vocal Health ◽  
Warm Up ◽  
Therapy Strategies

Objective: To identify the speech therapy strategies used to promote vocal health to teachers of early childhood, elementary and high school, participating in programs/actions for prevention and promotion of vocal health, as well as to describe and analyze their effects through an integrative literature review. Methods: An integrative review was conducted, which consisted of searches in the Lilacs, SciELO, and Medline databases. Inclusion criteria were complete articles available online in any language and year of publication that addressed strategies for promoting vocal health and preventing disorders in the target population, used in vocal health programs/actions with teachers. Results: Of the 624 articles that were included, six were selected to compose the study. It was possible to verify that the most used resources were educational strategies, through programs of guidance and attention to the teacher's vocal health. The results of the interventions were analyzed using self-assessment questionnaires, some of which have been standardized, with validation and adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese. Among practical strategies, exercises involving semi-occluded vocal tract, breathing, relaxation, resistance, and vocal projection, as well as vocal warm-up and cool-down, were the most used. Conclusions: Vocal health programs present diversified strategies, such as time and results analysis. The accurate study allowed to verify that the programs are effective and allow better vocal performance to the teacher, notably, through direct and indirect strategies.

scholarly journals Voice and Voice Quality

Linguistics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Kreiman
Keyword(s):  
Mate Selection ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
The Body ◽  
Voice Production ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Integral Role

The sound of a voice—its quality—plays an integral role in the biological and social existences of animal species ranging from frogs to birds to elephants to primates and humans. Across animal species, voice plays a part in many, many aspects of behavior, including mate selection and attraction, social organization, identification of parent/child/significant others, signaling of emotion and aggressive intent, and providing information about health, age, sex, and size. Voice quality is a critical component of acting, oratory, singing, motivating and persuading others, and projecting a likeable image across space (and of course is essential to the production of spoken language). The study of voice quality is thus by its very nature inherently interdisciplinary, to an extent that can create a large burden of scholarship on those wishing to understand not just what sounds occur, but why and how they carry the messages they do. The study of voice quality also depends critically on understanding voice production and acoustics. Biologically, a voice necessarily reflects the body that produced it—the size and shape of the vocal folds and vocal tract, patterns of articulation, and so on—and perception has co-evolved with those phonating bodies, so it functions as it does to take advantage of the information on offer about the speaker. In the same way, speakers produce sound in order to communicate with or influence listeners, so the voice production apparatus has evolved to produce sounds listeners can hear and evaluate, and to send biologically relevant messages. Because voice production and perception are inseparably intertwined in this way, this bibliography includes references describing voice production as well as voice perception. Beyond these fundamentals, the study of voice quality includes work on perception of personal attributes (identity, age, size, race, sex, and so on), expression and perception of emotion and personality, linguistic uses of changes in quality, and a host of other research areas. This bibliography provides representative and/or foundational studies in many of these areas, as an invitation and a gateway to further exploration.

Replication of the Superstition and Performance Study by

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Calin-Jageman ◽  
Tracy L. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Performance Study ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
And Performance

A recent series of experiments suggests that fostering superstitions can substantially improve performance on a variety of motor and cognitive tasks ( Damisch, Stoberock, & Mussweiler, 2010 ). We conducted two high-powered and precise replications of one of these experiments, examining if telling participants they had a lucky golf ball could improve their performance on a 10-shot golf task relative to controls. We found that the effect of superstition on performance is elusive: Participants told they had a lucky ball performed almost identically to controls. Our failure to replicate the target study was not due to lack of impact, lack of statistical power, differences in task difficulty, nor differences in participant belief in luck. A meta-analysis indicates significant heterogeneity in the effect of superstition on performance. This could be due to an unknown moderator, but no effect was observed among the studies with the strongest research designs (e.g., high power, a priori sampling plan).

Team Learning Behaviors and Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Direct Effects and Moderators

2021 ◽  
pp. 105960112110169
Author(s):  
Christopher W. Wiese ◽  
C. Shawn Burke ◽  
Yichen Tang ◽  
Claudia Hernandez ◽  
Ryan Howell
Keyword(s):  
Team Performance ◽  
Team Learning ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Sample Type ◽  
Learning Behaviors ◽  
Learning Teams ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Team Familiarity

Under what conditions do team learning behaviors best predict team performance? The current meta-analytic efforts synthesize results from 113 effect sizes and 7758 teams to investigate how different conceptualizations (fundamental, intrateam, and interteam), team characteristics (team size and team familiarity), task characteristics (interdependence, complexity, and type), and methodological characteristics (students vs. nonstudents and measurement choice) affect the relationship between team learning behaviors and team performance. Our results suggest that while different conceptualizations of team learning behaviors independently predict performance, only intrateam learning behaviors uniquely predict performance. A more in-depth investigation into the moderating conditions contradicts the familiar adage of “it depends.” The strength of the relationship between intrateam learning behaviors and team performance did not depend on team familiarity, task complexity, or sample type. However, our results suggested this relationship was stronger in larger teams, teams with moderate task interdependence, teams performing project/action tasks, and studies that use measures that capture a wider breadth of the team learning behavior construct space. These efforts suggest that common boundary conditions do not moderate this relationship. Scholars can leverage these results to develop more comprehensive theories addressing the different conceptualizations of team learning behaviors as well as providing clarity on the scenarios where team learning behaviors are most needed. Further, practitioners can use our results to develop more guided team-based policies that can overcome some of the challenges of forming and developing learning teams.

scholarly journals Vibrations of Nonlinear Elastic Structure Excited by Compressible Flow

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 4748
Author(s):  
Monika Balázsová ◽  
Miloslav Feistauer ◽  
Jaromír Horáček ◽  
Adam Kosík
Keyword(s):  
Compressible Flow ◽  
Nonlinear Elasticity ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Vocal Folds ◽  
Nonlinear Material ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian ◽  
Navier Stokes Equations ◽  
Reliable Solution

This study deals with the development of an accurate, efficient and robust method for the numerical solution of the interaction of compressible flow and nonlinear dynamic elasticity. This problem requires the reliable solution of flow in time-dependent domains and the solution of deformations of elastic bodies formed by several materials with complicated geometry depending on time. In this paper, the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) problem is solved numerically by the space-time discontinuous Galerkin method (STDGM). In the case of compressible flow, we use the compressible Navier–Stokes equations formulated by the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method. The elasticity problem uses the non-stationary formulation of the dynamic system using the St. Venant–Kirchhoff and neo-Hookean models. The STDGM for the nonlinear elasticity is tested on the Hron–Turek benchmark. The main novelty of the study is the numerical simulation of the nonlinear vocal fold vibrations excited by the compressible airflow coming from the trachea to the simplified model of the vocal tract. The computations show that the nonlinear elasticity model of the vocal folds is needed in order to obtain substantially higher accuracy of the computed vocal folds deformation than for the linear elasticity model. Moreover, the numerical simulations showed that the differences between the two considered nonlinear material models are very small.

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