• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2004

Vocal Register Transition(Passaggio) is one of the most important vocal technique for classically trined male singers(tenor). Passaggio is that it bridges the chest register to head register without a noticeable voice break. Vocalist gest the feeling that voice is not locked a particular register. The purpose of this study was to clarify the difference between easy($B_3$) tone and non passaggio(F#_4$) & passaggio(F#_4$). We selected 6 trained singers(tenor), who had more than 12.6 years of experience and were well trained in passaggio technique. Simulataneous measurement was performed frequency(F0), mean flow rate(MFR), intensity(I), and subglottal pressure(Psub) using a phonatory function analyzer(Nagashima) and Closed Quotient(CQ), Jitter, Shimmer, NHR a Electro-glottography(EGG) of Lx. Speech Studio(Laryngogrph Lt, London, UK) and vocal efficiency was calculated by Carroll's method. For the tenor, target tone/a/was measured in three conditions : 1) easy phonation : $B_3$, 2) high tone without passaggio : F#_4$, 3) high tone with passaggio : F#_4$). The results revealed that F0 of the target tones between non-passaggio group and passaggio group were not significantly different though higher is F0, higher is subglottal pressure. And also CQ, MFR, Psub were increased in passagio than nonpssagio but these values were not statistically different. This study concluded that passaggio is the vocal technique to make the same quality of tone between chest register and head register in tenor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2006

Background and Objectives: Countertenors who can produce higher vocal pitch like female classical singer's voice and use both modal and falsetto register. This study was conducted to study phonatory characteristics between modal and falsetto register of the countertenor. Materials and Methods: A male countertenor who had 8 years of experience was examined using a videostroboscopy and his voice was analyzed using aerodynamic measures; fundamental frequency(F0), Mean air flow rate(MFR), intensity(SLP), subglottal air pressure(Psub) with phonatory function analyzer(Nagashima) and acoustic measures; jitter, shimmer, HNR, closed quotient(CQ) using a Electro-glottography(EGG) of Lx. Speech Studio(Laryngoscope, Ltd, UK) and voice range profile of CSL(Kay elemetrics). Results: In the stroboscopy finding, the longitudinal length of vocal folds was increased at the falsetto register and the upper margin of vocal folds vibrated with incomplete closure of true vocal folds. In aerodynamic analysis, intensity was same at the modal and falsetto register. However, MFR, Psub, MPT were higher at the falsetto register. In the electroglottographic analysis, closed quotient(CQ) at the modal register was high and also much higher at the high-pitch falsetto than at the loud falsetto. In the VRP, intensity was similar though F0 was different between modal and falsetto register. Conclusion: It implied that countertenor could produce powerful voice quality by increasing of respiratory pressure and respiratory volume though glottal closure was incomplete. In addition, no change of EGG waveform, similar voice range with alto was observed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.14-16
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• 2006

Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the change of vocal tract length according to the level of the pitch by the singers. Materials and Methods: Fifteen tenors were asked to produce successive /a/ sound in G4(382Hz) for the head register, C3(131Hz) for the chest register and usual speaking sound. The control group consisted of 15 males of an similar age who are not professional singers. The length of vocal tract was calculated by applying the formula of Fn=(2n-1) c/4L(F : formant frequency, c : the speed of sound in the vocal tract(350m/sec), L : length of vocal tract, $n=1,2,3,4,{\ldots}{\infty}$). Results: In singer's group, there showed no significant statistical difference of length among head and chest register and usual speaking sound. However in the control group, there showed statistically significant difference of length. Comparison of the absolute difference in the length of vocal tract by changing level of pitch in phonation, between the control group and the singers group. Changing from G4 phonation to C3 phonation and C3 phonation to usual speaking sound showed statistically difference of vocal tract length was less in the singers group than the control group. Conclusion: The change of vocal tract length, in either speaking or singing, was less in singers than the control group. We could assume that the singers maintain their larynx position constantly throughout the pitch range when phonation.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate listener's affective responses to different vocal registers and modes in terms of valence (i.e., negative to positive affect) and arousal (i.e., low to high energy level). The data were collected from four different conditions (i.e., higher and lower registers paired with major and minor modes). A total of 188 female college students participated in the survey online and rated their perceived valence and arousal levels on a visual analogue scale after listening to each excerpt. The two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was administered for data analysis. The results revealed that there were significant differences in the affective responses to the two vocal registers, showing that the arousal was more affected by the register than the valence. Secondly, mode had statistically significant impact on both valence and arousal while weighing more on valence. Further, there was significant interaction effect of vocal register and mode on valence, but not on arousal. Results also displayed that listeners had the most negative valence when listening to the excerpt of minor mode in higher register, while having the lowest arousal when listening to the excerpt of minor mode in lower register. These findings imply that it is important to consider the vocal range as well as the musical mode when selecting music for appreciation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2001

Background and Objectives : A post-pubescent male classical singer has lower vocal register than a female classical singer. Countertenors who can produce higher vocal register like female classical singers with their falsetto voice and head resonance are recently active. The general purpose of this study is to analyze voice of countertenors and to determine the differences with those of classical singers. Materials and Methods : Four countertenors in Korea were examined using a videostrobos-copy and their voice were analyzed using aerodynamic, acoustic and voice range profile methods. Results and Conclusion : Countertenors could produce elevated fundamental frequency, voice intensity and mean air flow rate using large pulmonary capacity and head voiced falsetto. It means the presence of greater energy in countertenor is due to the more efficient conversion of the air flow to acoustic energy. But, they had unstable amplitude perturbation per each vocal cycle. The results indicated that countertenor is the acoustic products of different laryngeal mechanism with other classical register and it can be recognized as one of the registers of male classical singers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : It has been shown that the epilaryngeal tube in the human airway is responsible for vocal ring, or the singer's formant. In previous study, authors showed that in trained tenors, besides the conventional singer's formant in the region of ,5500Hz, another energy peak was observed in the region of 8,000Hz. This peak was interpreted as the second resonance of the epilarynx tube. Singers in other voice categories who produce vocal ring are assumed to have the same peak, but no measurements have as yet been made. Materials and Methods : Fifteen tenors, fourteen baritones, seven sopranos and five mezzo sopranos attending the music college, department of vocal music who could reliably produce the head and chest registers were chosen for this study. Each subject was asked to produce an/ah/sound for at least three seconds for the head register sound(tenors ; G4, barions ; E4 sopranos ; F5 and mezzosopranos ; C5) and for the chest register sound (tenors ; C3, baritones ; D3, sopranos ; D4 and Mezzosoprano ; A3). The sound data was analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based power spectrum, Long term average(LTA) power spectrum using the FFT algorithm of the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL, Kay elemetrics, Model 4300B, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test of the Statistical Package for Social sciences(SPSS). Results : For head register sounds, a significant increase was seen in the 2,200-3,400Hz region(p<0.05) and the Similar to the head register sounds, there was a significant increase in energy in the four trained singer group compared with the untrained group in the 2,200-3,100Hz region(p<0.05), the 7,800-8,400Hz region(p<0.05) for the chest register sounds. Conclusions : When good vocal production was made for the head and chest registers, an energy peak was observed near 2,500Hz, a frequency already known as the "singer's formant', in all subjects in the study group. Another region of increased energy was observed around 8,000Hz that had not been noticed previously. The authors believe this region to be the second singer's formant.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.151-154
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• 2002

Background and Objectives : The pitch range of the human voice is variable, extending from chest register to falsetto register. Although numerous studies have investigated after laryngeal mechanism description of falsetto tone, systematic and objective studies were lack. The purpose of this study was to systematically analyze and compare modal with falsetto voice. Materials and Methods : Seven adult baritones were selected from a larger population of volunteers at choir. Simultaneous measurements of acoustic, electroglottographic and aerodynamic study were made during /e/ sustained in two vocal registers, lowest modal and highest falsetto. Statistical analysis was performed using Wilkoxson signed rankes test. Results : In the acoustic analysis, shimmer was increased in flasetto voice(p<0.05). In the electroglottographic analysis, closed quotient(CQ), speed quotient(SQ) at the modal voice were higher than at the falsetto voice(p<0.05). In the aerodynamic analysis, and airflow rate(MFR) of falsetto voice was higher than modal voice(p<0.05). Conclusions : In the results of the study indicate that, falsetto register ineffective, inefficient, generally unpleasant because it was produced by incomplete clousure of true vocal cord. We anticipated that further study with large samples can provide an objective criteria for status and classification of singer's modal and falsetto voice.

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1993.05a
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• pp.70-70
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• 1993

Fundamental frequency is controlled by contraction of both TA and CT muscle. While activity of the CT is known well, little is known regarding the effect of the TA muscle on vocal fold vibration. To study this, a previously developed in vivo canine laryngeal model was modified. Isolated TA muscle activation was obtained by stimulating sectioned terminal TA branches through small thyroid cartilage windows. The results indicated that TA muscle activation is a major determinant in vocal register shift from falsetto to modal phonation. F0 increased with increasing TA activation in modal register, On the other hand, the F0 decreased with TA activation when the evoked voice belonged to falsetto register. Subglottic pressure increased gradually and OQ decreased gradually with TA activation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.135-139
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• 1999

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to systematically analyze and compare the acoustic characteristics of vocal major students with vocal nodule when singing. Materials and Methods : Ten sopranos with vocal nodule, who have never been treated due to voice problems, were the subject group. Twenty healthy sopranos major students were the control group for this study. The vocal nodule was confirmed by stroboscopy and the acoustic and electroglottographic analysis was conducted on be groups. Additionally, an inquiry on usual voice problems during speaking and singing were performed on each of the groups. Results : The vowel /a/ was spoken and sung by sopranos of each group. There were no significant differences in Fo, jitter, shimmer, NHR at speaking and singing in either group. We did not register any significant differences of closed quotient and speed quotient in electroglottography for both groups at singing, but speed quotient was increased in subject group at speaking(p＜0.05). And the sopranos with nodule demonstrated voice fatigue(70%), strained and tired voice after long period of performance and conversation(60%) on inquiry. Conclusions : Although they had a vocal nodule, this group, who had a long period of voice training, did not present any differences in acoustic and electroglottographic problems during short performance, but, the vocalists noticed delicate voice problems after a long performance. We conclude that the voice training teacher and laryngologist must initiate voice management and speech therapy for vocal nodule, even if there is no specific abnormality in acoustic analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.48-51
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• 2012

Background and Objectives : Vocal fold cyst is generally treated by surgical resection, it has a difference with vocal fold polyp, treated by conservative management first. Decrease in mucosal waves is known as main diagnostic criteria of vocal fold cyst. Sometimes there is a difficulty for diffrential diagnosis between cyst and polyp only by endoscopic examination. The purpose of the study is to identify the objective features of vocal cyst and polyp on the basis of voice analysis for the proper differential diagnosis, especially at high pitched phonation. Materials and Method : The voice analysis was done in 15 focal fold cyst patients and 42 vocal fold polyp. Parameters of perceptual assessment, acoustic and aerodynamic measure, and voice range profile were compared between two groups. Results : Vocal fold cyst patients showed significantly reduced MPT by acoustic and aerodynamic analysis, narrowed frequency-range and low maximun frequency by voice range profile analysis compared with vocal fold polyp patient. Maximun frequency 381 Hz is established for cut off value, differential diagnosis between cyst and polyp (ROC analysis, sensitivity 60%, specificity 68%). Conclusion : Voice analysis is helpful for differential diagnosis between vocal fold cyst and polyp, especially there is a difficulty for distinguish cyst from polyp at clinical situation by endoscopic examination. The result of decreased maximum frequncy at vocal fold cyst supports incomplete high-pitched phonation and falsetto regester at vocal fold cyst patients due to decreased mucosal wave, compared with vocal fold polyp patients.