Longitudinal study of solo singer education effects on maximum SPL and level in the singers' formant range

Abstract

The loudest phonation of the vowels [a:], [i:] and [u:] for 25 singing students was recorded throughout their pitch range at the beginning and termination of a full time solo singer education at a music conservatory. Three acoustic aspects were analysed: the overall sound pressure level (SPL) of the loudest phonation, the SPL in a 2.7-3.6 kHz frequency band, and the variability of these measurements along the subjects' pitch range. Some significant differences and trends were found between the before and after education. The overall SPL of the vowels tended to increase and its variation with pitch decreased. Two significant effects were observed for the SPL in the frequency band mentioned: an increase of the level and a decrease of the variation with pitch. The results suggest that objective assessment of these characteristics is a valuable supplement to the subjective evaluation of the progress of the solo singers education.

Key Words:

• singing, loudest phonation, singers formant, solo singer education, phonetogram