Spectrographic Vocal Characteristics in Female Teachers: Finger Kazoo Intensive Short-term Vocal Therapy

• Published in: Journal of voice 2023-10
• Main Authors: Santos, Sabrina S., Christmann, Mara K., Cielo, Carla A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acoustics; Dysphonia; Language and hearing sciences; Spectrography; Speech; Voice
• ISSN: 0892-1997; 1873-4588
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2023.08.023

Verify the results from intensive short-term vocal therapy using the Finger Kazoo technique about the spectrographic vocal measurements of teachers. Controlled and randomized trial. Spectrographic vocal assessment was performed by judges before and after intensive short-term vocal therapy with Finger Kazoo. Sample was composed of 41 female teachers. There were two study groups (with vocal nodules and without structural affection of the vocal folds) and the respective control groups. For the statistical analysis of the data, nonparametric tests were used (Mann-Whitney test and Wilcoxon test). After intensive short-term vocal therapy with Finger Kazoo, improvement in voice spectral parameters, such as improvement in tracing (color intensity and regularity), greater definition of formants and harmonics, increased replacement of harmonics by noise, and a greater number of harmonics, mainly in the group without structural affection of the vocal folds. There was an improvement in the spectrographic vocal parameters, showing greater stability, quality, and projection of the emission, especially in female teachers without structural affection of the vocal folds.