This study investigates loud singing in Operatic style and in the Contemporary Commercial Music style called ‘Belting'. Comparison is made with loud speaking and shouting voice. The study focuses on efficiency (how loud the voice is) and economy (how much loading it poses on the vocal folds). The topic is important since vocal overloading is an important risk factor for serious voice disorders. Singing and speaking samples from professional singers and vocally untrained participants will be recorded in the Speech and Voice Research Laboratory in Tampere University. For comparison, results from physical modelling of voice production will be obtained in collaboration with the Institute of Thermomechanics, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The results will profit voice science, singing pedagogy and also speech training. Updated knowledge of traumatizing voice loading mechanisms and adequate prevention of them among different voice users will have also clinical applicability.

2023

2027