Exploring the Role of Opera Voice Quality Exercise in the Voice Therapy.

Objective: There are very diverse approaches for voice therapy, and the application of voice quality used in vocal arts in voice therapy can also be seen. However, there is little research on the application of opera voice quality in voice therapy. This study explored the applications of our Opera Voice Quality Exercise in the field of voice therapy and investigated the impacts of this exercise on pitch, intensity, voice quality, and vocal ability.

Methods: Sixty-two healthy subjects, defined as those with no discomfort in their voice and no appearance of organic lesions on the larynx via stroboscopic laryngoscopy were included in the study. The subjects were randomly divided into an experimental group of 31 subjects and a control group of 31 subjects. The experimental group received a voice health education and weekly coaching sessions of Opera Voice Quality Exercise, whereas the subjects in the control group only had the former. The acoustic and aerodynamic parameters were evaluated before and after the experimental interventions.

Results: When producing [a] at comfortable speech pitch and intensity, the experimental group compared to the control group showed statistically significant improvement (P < 0.05) in the irregularity component (IC) parameter for males. When producing [a] at loudest intensity at a higher pitch in the normal speech pitch range, the experimental group compared to the control group showed statistically significant increase (P < 0.01) in sound pressure level (SPL) as well as improvements (P < 0.05) in shimmer and IC parameters for males. There was a statistically significant increase (P < 0.05) in SPL for females. During continuous speech, the experimental group compared to the control group showed statistically significant increase (P < 0.01) in SPLmax (maximum sound pressure level) for both males and females. There was a statistically significant increase in highest pitch (P < 0.01) and lowest pitch (P < 0.05) for males.

Conclusion: Regardless of gender, there is the greatest impact of Opera Voice Quality Exercise on phonation intensity. Furthermore, for males, this exercise causes the voice quality to be improved and the speech pitch to raise. Therefore, there may be applications of Opera Voice Quality Exercise in voice problems with weak voice such as nonorganic hypofunctional dysphonia, vocal fold paresis and paralysis, and voice problems related to Parkinson and age.