SUMMARY
Introduction
Effective communication is a key feature of vocal music. Singers can communicate during
singing by changing their voice qualities to express emotion. Varying acceptable standards
are used by performers for voice quality secondary to musical genre. Types of voice
qualities that are historically perceived as abusive by some teachers of singing (ToS)
and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are vocal effects. This study investigates
the perceptions of vocal effects in professional and nonprofessional listeners (NPLs).
Methods
Participants (n = 100) completed an online survey. Participants were divided into four professional
groups; Classical ToS, Contemporary ToS, SLPs, and NPLs. Participants completed an
identification task to assess their ability to identify the use of a vocal effect.
Secondly, participants analyzed a singer performing a vocal effect, rated their preferences
towards the effect, and gave objective performance ratings using a Likert scale. Finally,
participants were asked if they had concerns about the singer's voice. If the participant
responded yes, they were asked who they would refer the singer to, a SLP, ToS or medical
doctor (MD).
Results
Statistically significant differences were observed in SLPs ability to identify the
use of vocal effects compared to classical ToS (P = 0.01), contemporary ToS (P = 0.001) as well as NPLs compared to contemporary ToS (P = 0.009). NPLs were reported to have a lesser rate of concern statistically compared
to professional listeners (P = .006). Statically significant differences were found when comparing performance
rating scores secondary to preference for the vocal effect when comparisons were larger
than one Likert rating interval. With listeners giving higher performance ratings,
if they reported higher preference ratings. Finally, no significant differences were
identified when comparing referral scores secondary to occupation.
Conclusions
Findings provide support for the presence of specific biases towards the use of vocal
effects although no bias was found in management and care recommendations. Future
research is recommended to investigate the nature of these biases.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 06, 2023
Accepted:
March 30,
2023
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
