Vocal loading - Vocal loading Vocal loading refers to the stress inflicted on the speech organs when speaking for long periods. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Background 2 Voice production 3 Loading on tissue in vocal folds 4 Effect of speaking environment 5 Symptoms 6 Voice care Background Of the working population, about 15% have professions where their voice is their primary tool. That includes professions such as teacher, sales personnel, actors and singers, and TV and radio reporters. Many of them, especially teachers, suffer from voice related medical problems. In a larger scope, this involves millions of sick-leave days every year, for example, both in the US and the European Union. Still, research in vocal loading has often been treated as a minor subject. Voice production Voiced speech.
Voice production - here for the pure vowels. The sound production with which we are concerned begins with compression of the lungs to create a reservoir of relatively high pressure, and a (often) continuous airflow up and out through the vocal tract. The larynx or voice box is a cylindrical framework of cartilage that serves to anchor the vocal chords while they contract as a pair of lips to impede that airflow, until the vocal chords are periodically forced apart by the increasing air pressure from the lungs. Voiced phonemes such as the pure vowels are by definition distinguished by the buzzing sound of this periodic oscillation of the vocal chords. The lips of the mouth can be used in a similar way to create a similar sound, as any toddler or trumpeter can.
Voice analysis - A medical study of the voice can be, for instance, analysis of the voice of patients who have had a polyp removed from his or her vocal cords through an operation. In order to objectively evaluate the improvement in voice quality there has to be some measure of voice quality. An experienced voice therapist can quite reliably evaluate the voice, but this requires extensive training and is still always subjective. Another active research topic in medical voice analysis is vocal loading evaluation. The vocal cords of a person speaking for an extended period of time will suffer from tiring, that is, the process of speaking exerts a load on the vocal cords where the tissue will suffer from tiring. Among professional voice users (i.e. teachers, sales people) this tiring can cause.
Voice - many definitions: The sound made by a person using the vocal folds for talking and singing (singers use the voice as an instrument for creating music). The tone of voice may show that a sentence is a question, even if it grammatically is not, and shows emotions such as anger, surprise, happiness; in a request the tone reveals much about how much one wants something, and whether it is asking a favor or more like an order; the tone of saying e.g. "I am sorry" says a lot: it may vary from begging for forgiveness to "I have the right to do this even if you do not like it". A section of a choir or other musical ensemble that sings or plays the same part. The tone of a piece.
Speech processing - a speech signal. Speaker recognition, where the aim is to recognise the identity of the speaker. Enhancement of speech signals, e.g. Noise reduction, Speech coding for compression and transmission of speech. See also Telecommunication. Voice analysis for medical purposes, such as analysis of vocal loading and dysfunction of the vocal cords. Artificial voice : the artificial synthesis of speech, which usually means computer generated speech and the speech recognition by computers. See also: Audio signal processing, Linguistics, Phonetics, Utterance, Speech signal processing.
Speech recognition - to their destinations in large organisations. Commercial systems for speech recognition have been available off-the-shelf since the 1990s. However, it is interesting to note that despite the apparent success of the technology, few people use such speech recognition systems. It appears that most computer users can create and edit documents more quickly with a conventional keyboard, despite the fact that most people are able to speak considerably faster than they can type. Additionally, heavy use of the speech organs results in vocal loading. Some of the key technical problems in speech recognition are that: Inter-speaker differences are often large and difficult to account for. It is not clear which characteristics of speech are speaker-independent. The interpretation of many phonemes, words and phrases are context sensitive. For example, phonemes are often shorter.
Speech organ - velum (soft palate), uvula and glottis. See also: phonetics, vocal loading, human anatomy.
Speech disorder - where 'normal' speech is disrupted. This can mean stuttering, lisps, stammering, vocal dysphonia etc. Many of these types of disorders can be treated by speech therapy, but others require medical attention by a doctor in phoniatrics. Classifying speech into normal and disordered is more problematic than it first seems. By a strict classification, only 5% to 10% of the population have a completely normal (with respect to all parameters) and healthy voice, all others suffer from one disorder or another. Dysphonia, that is, incomplete functionality of the vocal folds, is one of the most common and can be observed as, for example, an unusual roughness of the voice. Stuttering is also quite common, about 7% of the population suffer from it at some point in life. Related subjects: vocal loading speech.
Phoniatrics - speech production. In general terms the speech organs means the mouth, throat (larynx), the vocal cords and lungs. Problems treated in phoniatrics include dysfunction of the vocal cords, cancer in the vocal cords or larynx, incapability to control the speech organs properly (speech disorders), and vocal loading related problems. Speech disorders are intimately related to psychology. Some doctors claim that disorders such as stuttering are entirely psychologycal problems, but that view has recently been mostly discarded. One explanation for stuttering is that there could be a synchronisation problem in the communication between the two halves of the brain..
Oesophageal voice - technique sometimes used by people who have had their vocal cords removed. The most common surgery used for the treatment of throat cancer is a total laryngectomy. In this operation, the larynx (and with it the vocal chords etc.) is removed completely. After this, the end of the trachea is sewn onto the edge of an opening cut out at the lower part of the neck, creating a breathing hole similar to that used by a whale. This hole is called tracheostoma and permits the patient to breathe through it after the operation. The air goes from outside through the tracheostoma directly to the lungs without passing the upper respiratory organs of nose, mouth and throat. Because of that, speech is seriously impaired and the development of an oesophageal voice is.
Vocal folds - Vocal folds The vocal folds, also known as vocal cords, are found at the base of the human larynx, they are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane which vibrate modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation. Open during breathing, the folds are controlled via the arytenoid cartilages for speech or singing. The folds vibrate when they are closed to obstruct the airflow through the glottis (see below): they are forced open by increased air pressure in the lungs, and closed again as the air rushes past the folds, lowering the pressure (Bernoulli's principle). A person's voice pitch is determined by the resonant frequency of the vocal folds. In an adult male this frequency averages about 125 Hz, adult females around.
Vocal music - Vocal music Vocal music is music intended for performance mainly by singers. Other musical instruments may be involved, but the choir is the main focus of the piece. Examples of vocal music include choral music, yodeling, and Barbershop. Vocal music is probably the oldest form of music, since it does not require any other instruments other than the human voice. All musical cultures have some form of vocal music. See also: a capella..
Vocal stress - Vocal stress In linguistics, vocal stress is the accent or emphasis given to each syllable in a piece of writing, as determined by conventional pronunciation. The amount and importance of vocal stress varies in languages. In some languages, vocal stress can determine the meaning of a word. For example, in English, the word record changes its meaning according to vocal stress: record, the noun record, the verb Poetry in English depends upon vocal stress to establish the meter of the poem. The vocal stress is usually thought of as strong or weak. Some people distinguish a third, intermediate stress level. Example: In the word reconsider, the stress pattern is 'recon'sider (intermediate - weak - strong - weak)..
Vocal fold nodule - Vocal fold nodule A vocal fold nodule reduces or obstructs the ability of the vocal folds to create the rapid changes in air pressure which generate human speech. Symptoms include hoarseness of speech, painful speech production, and reduced vocal range. What causes these formations are usually strenuous or abusive voice practices such as yelling and coughing. Persons which are often susceptible include cheerleaders, politicians, and musicians. The physical impact of having vocal fold nodules does not usually harm one's health, though it can impair one's speaking and singing ability. Perhaps more importantly are the psychological factors when the doctor informs the patient that he/she has nodules. Especially in those who use their voice in their profession (e.g. singers, actors, broadcasters) a nodule can sufficiently diminish the.
Vocal fold cyst - Vocal fold cyst Vocal fold cysts are collections of fluid in sac-like formations on the vocal folds. Cysts can deteriorate the quality of human speech production and are removable by surgery. See also vocal fold nodule.
Vocal house - Vocal house Vocal House is a musical genre that came to the fore in the late 1980s and early '90s. It is often comprised of deep soulful vocals (usually sung by female jazz divas) and a piano break, at some stage of the tune. Other samples usually included jazz loops, horns and funk basslines. Its roots can be traced back to America, although later influences came from Italy and the Balearics..
Vocal tract - Vocal tract The vocal tract is that area in animals, particularly humans, where sounds are created that exit out of the mouth or vibrate in the throat..
Vocalization - means of communication generated in many cases by their primitive versions of vocal chords. In birds, it may be achieved by whistling but can communicate a number of things including danger. It is also used to describe the noises made via the blowhole of mammalian sea creatures such as whales and porpoises. In humans, it is a special means of communication called speech..
Vocal Group Hall of Fame - Vocal Group Hall of Fame The Vocal Group Hall of Fame was organized to honor what they term "the Greatest Vocal Groups in the World." It is headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania. It includes a theater and a museum. It was originally organized in 1998. The original administration closed it in October, 2001 and a new nonprofit organization took over, reopening it in April, 2002. Inductees Abba (2002) Ben E. King & the Drifters (2000) Crosby Stills & Nash (1998) Danny & The Juniors (2003) Dion & The Belmonts (2000) Dixie Hummingbirds (2000) Earth Wind & Fire (2003) Fifth Dimension (2002) Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers (2000) Gladys Knight & The Pips (2001) Hank Ballard & the Midnighters (1999) Jay & the Americans (2002) Little Anthony &.
Kargyraa - used in Tuvan throat singing. The vestibular folds or false vocal folds are vibrated to produce an "undertone" exactly half the frequency of the fundamental produced by the vocal folds, and the mouth cavity is shaped to select harmonics of both the fundamental and the "undertone," producing from four to six pitches simultaneously. See also: xoomii , throat singing.
