University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
J Voice. 2024 Mar;38(2):435-445. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2021.09.026. Epub 2021 Nov 27.
A limitation of traditional semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE) is the single sustained vowel task that precludes co-articulated singing. This study investigated immediate effects of a variably occluded face mask (VOFM) on vocal effort, acoustic, and aerodynamic measures in sung low and high pitches of healthy singers.
Single-group, pre-post intervention study.
The outlet ports of disposable anesthesia facemasks were fitted with plastic caps with two drilled openings sizes (9.6 mm, 6.4 mm). Twenty-three singers with no voice complaints provided baseline vocal effort, acoustic, and aerodynamic measures in high and low pitches. Participants trained in four conditions: two VOFM sizes (9.6 mm, 6.4 mm) in combination with the 20th and 80th percentile of the singer's pitch range. Participants were trained on three phonatory tasks: repeated consonant/vowel syllables, sung sentence, and sustained vowel. Vocal effort before and after training was compared using a visual-analog scale, while standardized mean differences captured acoustic and aerodynamic changes before and after training.
Participants reported decreased vocal effort after VOFM training at all occlusion and pitch combinations. On average, consistent beneficial effect sizes were found in cepstral peak prominence (CPP) and cepstral spectral index of dysphonia (CSID) for all 4 occlusion-pitch combinations, and vocal intensity and mean estimated subglottal pressure increased for all 4 occlusion-pitch training combinations. Changes in mean phonatory airflow and resistance were less consistent.
There was an immediate effect of decreased vocal effort in singing after VOFM training. Acoustic and aerodynamic effects were variable and modest. Future studies should explore changes in these outcomes after VOFM in singing voice therapy.
传统半封闭声道练习（SOVTE）的局限性在于单一的持续元音任务，这排除了协同发音的歌唱。本研究调查了可变封闭面罩（VOFM）对健康歌手的低高音歌唱时发声努力、声学和空气动力学测量的即时影响。
单组、前后干预研究。
一次性麻醉面罩的出口端口安装了带有两个钻孔开口大小（9.6 毫米、6.4 毫米）的塑料盖。23 名无嗓音抱怨的歌手提供了高低音的基线发声努力、声学和空气动力学测量值。参与者在四种条件下进行训练：两种 VOFM 尺寸（9.6 毫米、6.4 毫米）与歌手音域的第 20 和 80 百分位相结合。参与者接受了三个发音任务的训练：重复辅音/元音音节、唱歌句子和持续元音。使用视觉模拟量表比较训练前后的发声努力，而标准化平均差异则捕捉训练前后的声学和空气动力学变化。
参与者报告在所有封闭和音高组合的 VOFM 训练后发声努力降低。平均而言，在所有 4 种封闭-音高组合中，均发现倒谱峰突出度（CPP）和嗓音障碍的倒谱频谱指数（CSID）的一致有益效应大小，而所有 4 种封闭-音高训练组合的发声强度和平均估计的声门下压均增加。平均发音气流和阻力的变化不太一致。
VOFM 训练后歌唱时发声努力的即时降低有效果。声学和空气动力学的影响是可变的且适度的。未来的研究应该探索 VOFM 在歌唱嗓音治疗后的这些结果的变化。
