Vocology

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Vocology is the science and practice of vocal habilitation, or vocal training and therapy. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Its concerns include the nature of speech and language pathology, the defects of the vocal tract (laryngology), the remediation of speech therapy, and the voice training (voice therapy) and voice pedagogy of song and speech for actors and public speakers.

Contents

In its broadest sense, vocology is the study of voice, but as a professional discipline it has a narrower focus: the science and practice of voice habilitation, which includes evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention.

History

Vocology was invented (simultaneously, but independently) by Ingo Titze, and an otolaryngologist at Washington University in St. Louis, Prof. George Gates. [1] Titze defines vocology as "the science and practice of voice habilitation, with a strong emphasis on habilitation". To habilitate means to “enable”, to “equip for”, to “capacitate”; in other words, to assist in performing whatever function that needs to be performed". He goes on that this "is more than repairing a voice or bringing it back to a former state ... rather, it is the process of strengthening and equipping the voice to meet very specific and special demands". [1]

Requirements and educational programs

It is not yet its own professional degree, thus it only assists the voice medicine team. Usually a person practicing vocology is a voice coach with additional training in the voice medical arts, a prepared voice/singing teacher, or a speech pathologist with additional voice performance training—so they can better treat the professional voice user. The study of vocology is recognized academically by courses and institutes in India, Italy, United States and Chile.

Chile

Colombia

India

Italy

United States

Korea, Republic of

Reflecting the increased recognition of vocology, the Scandinavian Journal of Logopedics & Phoniatrics and Voice merged in 1996 with the new name Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology. [6] Additionally, a new association bearing the name of vocology (Pan-American Vocology Association) has also been started.

See also

Related Research Articles

The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology and speech production in general. Phoneticians in other subfields, such as linguistic phonetics, call this process voicing, and use the term phonation to refer to any oscillatory state of any part of the larynx that modifies the airstream, of which voicing is just one example. Voiceless and supra-glottal phonations are included under this definition.

Vocal loading is the stress inflicted on the speech organs when speaking for long periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocal cords</span> Folds of throat tissues that help to create sounds through vocalization

In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech or singing, the folds are controlled via the recurrent laryngeal branch of the vagus nerve. They are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally, from back to front, across the larynx. They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human voice</span> Sound made by a human being using the vocal tract

The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singing</span> Act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person whose profession is singing is called a singer, artist or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music, Greek music, Japanese music, and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal, and popular music styles such as pop, rock, and electronic dance music.

Passaggio is a term used in classical singing to describe the transition area between the vocal registers. The passaggi (plural) of the voice lie between the different vocal registers, such as the chest voice, where any singer can produce a powerful sound, the middle voice, and the head voice, where a penetrating sound is accessible, but usually only through vocal training. The historic Italian school of singing describes a primo passaggio and a secondo passaggio connected through a zona di passaggio in the male voice and a primo passaggio and secondo passaggio in the female voice. A major goal of classical voice training in classical styles is to maintain an even timbre throughout the passaggio. Through proper training, it is possible to produce a resonant and powerful sound.

A hoarse voice, also known as dysphonia or hoarseness, is when the voice involuntarily sounds breathy, raspy, or strained, or is softer in volume or lower in pitch. A hoarse voice can be associated with a feeling of unease or scratchiness in the throat. Hoarseness is often a symptom of problems in the vocal folds of the larynx. It may be caused by laryngitis, which in turn may be caused by an upper respiratory infection, a cold, or allergies. Cheering at sporting events, speaking loudly in noisy situations, talking for too long without resting one's voice, singing loudly, or speaking with a voice that is too high or too low can also cause temporary hoarseness. A number of other causes for losing one's voice exist, and treatment is generally by resting the voice and treating the underlying cause. If the cause is misuse or overuse of the voice, drinking plenty of water may alleviate the problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telerehabilitation</span> Delivery of rehabilitation services over the internet

Telerehabilitation (or e-rehabilitation is the delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the internet. Telerehabilitation allows patients to interact with providers remotely and can be used both to assess patients and to deliver therapy. Fields of medicine that utilize telerehabilitation include: physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, audiology, and psychology. Therapy sessions can be individual or community-based. Types of therapy available include motor training exercises, speech therapy, virtual reality, robotic therapy, goal setting, and group exercise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speech–language pathology</span> Disability therapy profession

Speech–language pathology (a.k.a. speech and language pathology or logopedics) is a healthcare and academic discipline concerning the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders, including expressive and mixed receptive-expressive language disorders, voice disorders, speech sound disorders, speech disfluency, pragmatic language impairments, and social communication difficulties, as well as swallowing disorders across the lifespan. It is an allied health profession regulated by professional bodies including the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Speech Pathology Australia. The field of speech-language pathology is practiced by a clinician known as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) or a speech and language therapist (SLT). SLPs also play an important role in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), often in collaboration with pediatricians and psychologists.

The National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS), is a multi-site research and teaching organization dedicated to studying the characteristics, limitations and enhancement of human voice and speech. The NCVS is located in Salt Lake City, Utah with the Lead Institution located at the University of Utah. NCVS is also a Center at the University of Iowa where it has laboratories in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. In addition, the NCVS has collaborators in Denver and at many institutions around the United States. Its focus is vocology, or the science and practice of voice habilitation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voice therapy</span> Used to aid voice disorders or altering quality of voice

Voice therapy consists of techniques and procedures that target vocal parameters, such as vocal fold closure, pitch, volume, and quality. This therapy is provided by speech-language pathologists and is primarily used to aid in the management of voice disorders, or for altering the overall quality of voice, as in the case of transgender voice therapy. Vocal pedagogy is a related field to alter voice for the purpose of singing. Voice therapy may also serve to teach preventive measures such as vocal hygiene and other safe speaking or singing practices.

Ingo R. Titze is a voice scientist and executive director of the National Center for Voice and Speech and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He also teaches at the Summer Vocology Institute, also housed at the University of Utah. He is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa and has written several books relating to the human voice.

The Lee Silverman Voice Treatment – LOUD is a treatment for speech disorders associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). It focuses on increasing vocal loudness and is delivered by a speech therapist in sixteen one-hour sessions spread over four weeks. A derivative of this treatment, known as LSVT BIG, is used in treating movement aspects of Parkinson's disease.

Jan Švec is a Czech voice scientist. He is the inventor of videokymography, a method for high-speed visualization of vocal-fold vibrations, which is being used for advanced diagnosis of voice disorders.

Emil Fröschels was an Austrian speech and voice therapy specialist. As a laryngologist and chief speech therapist, in 1924 he introduced the term logopedics, i.e., speech therapy, into medical usage. He established the International Society of Logopedics and Phoniatrics and was a co-founder, with Karl Cornelius Rothe, of the Vienna School for Speech-Disturbed Children.

Aatto Albanus Sonninen was a Finnish physician and speech and language pathologist known for his work in phoniatrics and logopedics.

Timo Leino founded the Department of Speech Technique in the University of Tampere in 1974. He was the head of department from 1974 to 2001. Leino pioneered speech analysis in Finland. He worked to develop speech education in Finland.

Anne-Maria Laukkanen is a Finnish researcher (1990–) and a permanent full professor (2001–) of speech technique and vocology at the University of Tampere.

Johannes Georg Pahn was a German physician, speech therapist and music educator. He was a co-founder of phoniatrics in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Nasser Kotby</span> Egyptian academic

Mohamed Nasser Kotby, is an Egyptian Professor Emeritus of Otorhinolarygology and Phoniatrics at Faculty of Medicine, Ain Sham University. He is considered the founder of the Phoniatrics and Logopedics in Egypt and the Middle East. Kotby published many papers in scholarly journals and textbooks. His works investigated different topics e.g. vocology, dysarthria, dysphasia and child language. He is a member of many professional societies, national, regional and international. He was elected as president of Collegium Medicorum Theatri [CoMeT], Pan African Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies [PAFOS], Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum [CORLAS], International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (IALP), International Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (IFOS). He is now President of the Egyptian Society of Phoniatrics and Logopedics (ESPL). In addition to his scientific work, Kotby is a certified guide in Egyptology. He wrote a series of books exploring history of Egypt.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Titze IR. (1996). What is vocology? Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 21:5-6. doi : 10.3109/14015439609099196
  2. Titze IR (Jan 2008). "The human instrument". Sci. Am. 298 (1): 94–101. Bibcode:2008SciAm.298a..94T. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0108-94. PMID   18225701.
  3. Carroll LM (Oct 2000). "Application of singing techniques for the treatment of dysphonia". Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America. 33 (5): 1003–16. doi:10.1016/S0030-6665(05)70260-7. PMID   10984766.
  4. van Mersbergen M, Ostrem J, Titze IR (Jun 2001). "Preparation of the speech-language pathologist specializing in voice: an educational survey". J Voice. 15 (2): 237–50. doi:10.1016/S0892-1997(01)00024-8. PMID   11411477.
  5. Titze, Ingo R. (1994). Principles of voice production. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall. ISBN   0-13-717893-X.
  6. Kjær BE. (1996). Welcome to a New Journal. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 21: 3 doi : 10.3109/14015439609099194

Further reading