Assessments of Voice Use and Voice Quality Among College/University Singing Students Ages 18-24 Through Ambulatory Monitoring With a Full Accelerometer Signal

The multiple social and performance demands placed on college/university singers could put their still-developing voices at risk. Previous ambulatory monitoring studies have analyzed the duration, intensity, and frequency (in Hertz) of voice use among such students. Nevertheless, no studies to date have incorporated the simultaneous acoustic voice quality measures into the acquisition of these measures to allow for direct comparison during the same voicing period. Such data could provide greater insight into how young singers use their voices, as well as identify potential correlations between vocal dose and acoustic changes in voice quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the voice use and the estimated voice quality of college/university singing students (18-24 years old, N = 19). Ambulatory monitoring was conducted over three full, consecutive weekdays measuring voice from an unprocessed accelerometer signal measured at the neck. From this signal, traditional vocal dose metrics such as phonation percentage, dose time, cycle dose, and distance dose were analyzed. Additional acoustic measures included perceived pitch, pitch strength, long-term average spectrum slope, alpha ratio, dB sound pressure level 1-3 kHz, and harmonic-to-noise ratio. Major findings from more than 800 hours of recording indicated that among these students (a) higher vocal doses correlated significantly with greater voice intensity, more vocal clarity and less perturbation; and (b) there were significant differences in some acoustic voice quality metrics between nonsinging, solo singing, and choral singing.