Not just sound: supplementing the phonetogram with the singer’s own perceptions of vocal challenges.

Anick Lamarche, Sten Ternström

In the objective assessment of the singer’s vocal status, the phonetogram is a useful tool for documenting pitch and dynamic range. However, voice problems of professional singers may be so subtle that they are perceived only by the singer him/herself. Using a hand-held button to tap into the singer’s own perceptions, the phonetogram could be augmented with non-acoustic but singer-relevant information and thus better inform the clinician.
Twenty-one healthy professional singers (9 mezzo-sopranos and 12 sopranos) performing structured tasks were recorded with a modified phonetograph. They were instructed to press a button to indicate sensations of vocal instability or reduced control during phonation. Each press was registered at the actual position in the phonetogram, thereby marking potential areas of difficulty. A simplified two-dimensional correlation method was used to quantify the consistency of button use for repeated tasks. Although sources of error include the singer’s reaction time as well as vibrato modulations, the pattern of button presses was fairly consistent within subjects. As expected, the singers tended to press at the extremes of phonetogram contours as well as at register transitions. In a post-recording questionnaire 16/17 singers rated the button mapping to their phonetograms as 75% or more typical of their experience and performance. These results and
the potential of the method for the assessment of injured singers are discussed.

Anick Lamarche, Sten Ternström
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Dep. of Speech, Music and Hearing
Lindstedtsvägen 24
100 44 Stockholm
fax: +46 087907854 Tel: +46087907857 / +46087907855
anick@nada.kth.se
stern@nada.kth.se