MONTH 20XX
THE EFFECTS OF VOICE QUALITY,
PITCH, AND LOUDNESS ADJUSTMENTS
ON VOCAL TREMOR AND VIBRATO
Rosemary A. Lester-Smith1, Kylie E. Dunne1, Elaina Derrick1, Charles R. Larson2, &
Leora R. Cherney2
1 The University of Texas at Austin
2 Northwestern University
Speaker Disclosure
• Financial
– Assistant Professor at UT Austin
– Research Funding from NIDILRR
and NIDCD
• Nonfinancial
– No relevant disclosures Rosemary A. Lester-Smith,
PhD, CCC-SLP
Vocal Tremor Vocal Vibrato
• Neurological voice disorder • Singing technique
• Caused by essential • Western classical singing
tremor, dystonia, Parkinson
disease, cerebellar
dysfunction
• Involves rhythmic oscillation • Involves rhythmic oscillation
of the respiratory, laryngeal, of the laryngeal and vocal
or vocal tract structures tract structures
(Brown & Simonson, 1963; Hachinski et al., 1975;
(Hirano, 1995; Niimi et al., 1988)
Koda & Ludlow, 1992; Sulica & Louis, 2010)
Essential Vocal Tremor Vocal Vibrato
• fo modulation • fo modulation
– 5–10% extent – 6–8% extent
– 4–8 Hz rate – 5–7 Hz rate
• intensity modulation • intensity modulation
– 23–43% extent – 23–38% extent
– 4–5 Hz rate – ~5–10 Hz rate
(Barkmeier-Kraemer et al., 2011; Lester et al., 2013) (Prame, 1994; Ramig & Shipp, 1987; Seidner et al., 1995;
Shipp et al., 1980; Sundberg, 1994)
Listener Perception of Modulation
Breathy High Soft
Study Sample Voice Pitch Voice
Barkmeier-Kraemer, Speaker with
Lato, & Wiley (2011) essential vocal tremor
Lester & Story (2015) Computer-simulated
vocal tremor
Lester-Smith & Story Singers producing
(2016) vibrato
Current Study Purpose
• Examine the effects of voice quality, pitch, and
loudness adjustments on the extent of fo and
intensity modulation in classically-trained singers
• Assess singers’ ability to produce the target
adjustments by measuring the smoothed cepstral
peak prominence (CPPS), mean fo, and mean
intensity
Method – Data Collection
• 10 classically-trained singers
– 6 women, 4 men
– 22–53 years of age (mean = 30 years)
• Sustained vowels with vibrato
Amplitude
– Pressed and breathy voice quality fo
– High and low pitch
(target = +/- 200 cents) intensity
– Loud or soft voice
(target = +/- 10 dB SPL) Time
• Auditory models and verbal cues
Baseline Intervention Baseline Intervention Baseline
Method – Data Analysis
#1 #2
• Withdrawal single-case experimental design
(ABA)
• Analyzed the average extent of fo and intensity
modulation for each trial
𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑚𝑖𝑛
– 𝑥100
max +𝑚𝑖𝑛
• Tau-U analysis (Lee & Cherney, 2018; Parker et
al., 2010)
– nonoverlap index that controls for baseline trend
• Analyzed the average CPPS for voice quality
strategies, fo for pitch strategies, and intensity for
loudness strategies
Results – change in fo modulation extent
Voice Quality Pitch Loudness
Pressed Breathy High Low Loud Soft
Results – change in intensity modulation extent
Voice Quality Pitch Loudness
Pressed Breathy High Low Loud Soft
Results – production of breathy voice
Extent of fo Modulation Extent of Intensity Modulation
Discussion
• Breathy voice
– significantly decreased average extents of fo and intensity modulation in
the highest percentage of participants.
– did not significantly increase average extents in any participant.
– was produced by the majority of participants based on CPPS analysis.
• High pitch increased average extents of fo modulation or had no
effect on average extents of fo modulation.
• Pressed voice, low pitch, soft voice, and loud voice had inconsistent
effects on the average extents of fo and intensity modulation.
Future Directions
• Does the physiological source of vibrato (i.e., modulation of vocal
fold length vs. degree of adduction) account for the differential
effects of breathy voice on singers’ extents of fo and intensity
modulation?
• Is breathy voice an effective behavioral therapy target for reducing
the extent of fo and intensity modulation in EVT?
• What cuing strategies elicit an optimal level of breathiness in
speakers with EVT?
Acknowledgements
NIDILRR ARRT
90AR5015 (Cherney)
Leora Cherney Charles Larson
Kylie Dunne Elaina Derrick
References
Barkmeier-Kraemer, J., Lato, A., & Wiley, K. (2011). Development of a speech treatment program for a client with essential vocal tremor. Seminars in Speech and
Language, 32(1), 43-57.
Brown, J. R., & Simonson, J. (1963). Organic voice tremor: A tremor of phonation. Neurology, 13(6), 520-525.
Hachinski, V. C., Thomsen, I. V., & Buch, N. H. (1975). The nature of primary vocal tremor. The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 2(3), 195-197.
Hirano, M., Hibi, S., & Hagino, S. (1995). Physiological aspects of vibrato. In P. H. Dejonckere, M. Hirano, & J. Sundberg (Eds.), Vibrato (pp. 9-33). San Diego, CA:
Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
Koda, J., & Ludlow, C. L. (1992). An evaluation of laryngeal muscle activation in patients with voice tremor. Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery, 107(5), 684-696.
Lee, J. B., & Cherney, L. R. (2018). Tau-U: A quantitative approach for analysis of single-case experimental data in aphasia. American Journal of Speech-Language
Pathology, 27(1S), 495-503.
Lester, R. A., Barkmeier-Kraemer, J., & Story, B. H. (2013). Physiologic and acoustic patterns of essential vocal tremor. Journal of Voice, 27(4), 422-432.
Lester, R. A., & Story, B. H. (2015). The effects of physiological adjustments on the perceptual and acoustical characteristics of simulated laryngeal vocal tremor. The
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138(2), 953-963.
Lester-Smith, R. A., & Story, B. H. (2016). The effects of physiological adjustments on the perceptual and acoustical characteristics of vibrato as a model of vocal
tremor. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 140(5), 3827-3833.
Niimi, S., Horiguchi, S., Kobayashi, N., & Yamada, M. (1988). Electromyographic study of vibrato and tremolo in singing. Voice Production, Mechanisms and Functions,
403-414.
Parker, R. I., Vannest, K. J., Davis, J. L., & Sauber, S. B. (2011). Combining nonoverlap and trend for single-case research: Tau-U. Behavior Therapy, 42(2), 284-299.
Prame, E. (1994). Measurements of the vibrato rate of ten singers. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 96(4), 1979-1984.
Ramig, L. A., & Shipp, T. (1987). Comparative measures of vocal tremor and vocal vibrato. Journal of Voice, 1(2), 162-167.
Seidner, W., Nawka, T., Cebulla, M. (1995). Dependence of the Vibrato on Pitch, Musical Intensity, and Vowel in Different Voice Classes. In P. H. Dejonckere, Hirano,
M., Sundberg. J. (Ed.), Vibrato (pp. 63-82). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
Shipp, T., Leanderson, R., & Sundberg, J. (1980). Some acoustic characteristics of vocal vibrato. J Res Sing, 4, 18-25.
Sulica, L., & Louis, E. D. (2010). Clinical characteristics of essential voice tremor: a study of 34 cases. The Laryngoscope, 120(3), 516-528.
Sundberg, J. (1995). Acoustic and psychoacoustic aspects of vocal vibrato. In P. H. Dejonckere, M. Hirano, & J. Sundberg (Eds.), Vibrato (pp. 35-62). San Diego, CA:
Singular Publishing Group, Inc.
