Summary
The question whether or not a velopharyngeal opening is advantageous in singing has
been discussed for a very long time among teachers of singing. The present investigation
analyzes the acoustic consequences of a large, a narrow, and a nonexistent velopharyngeal
opening (VPO). A divided flow mask (nasal and oral) connected to flow transducers
recorded the nasal and oral DC flows in four female and four male classically trained
singers while they sang vowel sequences at different pitches under these three experimental
conditions. Acoustic effects were analyzed in three long-term average spectra parameters:
(i) the sound level at the fundamental frequency, (ii) the level of the highest peak
below 1 kHz, and (iii) the level of the highest peak in the 2–4 kHz region. For a
narrow VPO, an increase in the level of the highest peak in the 2–4 kHz region was
observed. As this peak is an essential voice component in the classical singing tradition,
a narrow VPO seems beneficial in this type of singing.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of VoiceAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Movement of the Velum during speech and classically trained singers.J Voice. 1997; 11: 212-221
- From song to speech: nasal resonance-fact or fiction?.J Sing. 2000; 57: 33-40
McCoy, S. The seduction of nasality. J Sing. 64:579–582.
- Experimental findings on the nasal tract resonator in singing.J Voice. 2007; 21: 127-137
- Nasalance and the tenor passaggio.J Sing. 2014; 70: 403-410
- Supraglottic contribution to voice quality.J Voice. 1987; 1: 186-190
- Role of the soft palate in laryngeal functions and selected voice qualities: simultaneous velolaryngeal videoendoscopy.Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 1990; 99: 18-28
- Does the nose resonate during singing?.STL-QPSR. 1993; 3&4: 35-42
- Velum behavior in professional classic operatic singing.J Voice. 2002; 16: 61-71
- A brief study of nasality in singing.J Sing. 1996; 52: 21-26
- Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.Carl Fischer, New York1967
- Principes de Phonetique Experimentale.H. Didier, Paris1924
- Les attributs acoustiques de la nasalité vocalique et consonantique.Studia Linguistica. 1954; 8: 103-109
- Acoustics of vowel nasalization and articulatory shifts in French nasal vowels.in: Krakow MKHaRA Phonetics and Phonology. 5. Academic Press, 1993: 147-167
- Acoustic Theory of Speech Production.Mouton, The Hague1960
- Some acoustic features of nasal and nasalized vowels: a target for vowel nasalization.J Acoust Soc Am. 1996; 99: 3694-3706
- Velopharyngeal port status during classical singing.J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2005; 48: 1311-1324
- Sweep‐tone measurements of vocal‐tract characteristics.J Acoust Soc Am. 1971; 49: 541-558
- Vocal tract sweeptone data and model simulations of vowels, laterals and nasals.STL-QPSR. 1993; 3&4: 43-76
- The Science of the Singing Voice.Northern Illinois University Press, Dekalb, Illinois1987
- Effects of a velopharyngeal opening on the sound transfer characteristics of the vowel.TMH-QPSR. 2002; 43: 9-15
- Spectrum effects of subglottal pressure variation in professional baritone singers.J Acoust Soc Am. 2004; 115: 1270-1273
- Effect on LTAS of vocal loudness variation.Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2004; 29: 183-191
- Relationship between subglottal pressure and sound pressure level in untrained voices.J Voice. 2016; 30: 15-20
Article info
Publication history
Published online: December 23, 2018
Accepted:
November 21,
2018
Footnotes
Declarations of interest: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
