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Related Experiment Videos

Velum behavior in professional classic operatic singing.

Peer Birch1, Bodil Gümoes, Hanne Stavad

  • 1Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark.

Journal of Voice : Official Journal of the Voice Foundation
|May 11, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Professional operatic singers may exhibit velopharyngeal opening (VPO) during vocalization. Nasal airflow and acoustic analysis detected VPO, but it did not correlate with perceived nasal vocal quality.

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Area of Science:

  • Vocal acoustics
  • Speech science
  • Physiology of singing

Background:

  • The velopharyngeal mechanism is crucial for voice production, controlling airflow between the oral and nasal cavities.
  • Understanding velopharyngeal opening (VPO) in professional singers is important for vocal pedagogy and performance.
  • Previous research has explored VPO, but comprehensive analysis across different voice types and singing conditions is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the presence and characteristics of velopharyngeal opening (VPO) in professional operatic singers.
  • To correlate objective VPO measurements with subjective assessments of nasal vocal quality.
  • To analyze VPO across various vowel sounds, pitches, and singer classifications.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized nasofiberscopy to visually assess VPO shapes in singers.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Employed a divided flow mask to measure nasal and oral airflow during singing.
  • Compared acoustic signals from nasal and oral airflow to identify VPO based on fundamental level differences.

    • Main Results:

    • Nasofiberscopy revealed VPO of varying shapes in several singers.
    • Nasal DC airflow was detected in a majority of singers at certain pitches.
    • Acoustic analysis suggested VPO in some instances, indicated by a fundamental level difference below 15 dB.
    • No significant correlation was found between objectively measured VPO and subjective ratings of nasal vocal quality.

    Conclusions:

    • Professional operatic singers may exhibit velopharyngeal opening during singing, detectable through nasofiberscopy and airflow analysis.
    • Objective measures of VPO do not consistently predict the perceived nasal quality of a singer's voice.
    • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the functional implications of VPO in trained singers.