Semioccluded Vocal Tract Exercises Improve Self-Perceived Voice Quality in Healthy Actors

Summary: Purpose.Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE) have shown to lead to more effective andefficient vocal production for individuals with voice disorders and for singers. The aim of the present study is toinvestigate the effects of a 10-minute SOVTE warm-up protocol on the actors’voice.Methods.Twenty-seven professional theater actors (16 females) without voice complaints were audio-recordedwhile reading aloud, with their acting voice, a short dramatic passage at four time points. Recordings were made:the day before the show, just before and soon after the warm-up protocol which was performed prior to the showand soon after the show. The voice quality was acoustically and auditory-perceptually evaluated and quantifiedat each time point by blinded raters. Self-assessment parameters anonymously collected pre and post exercisingwere also analyzed.Results.No statistically significant differences on perceptual ratings and acoustic parameters were foundbetween pre/post exercise sessions and males/females. A statistically significant improvement was detected in theself-assessment parameters concerning comfort of production, sonorousness, vocal clarity and power.Conclusions.Vocal warm-up with the described SOVTE protocol was effective in determining a self-perceivedimprovement in comfort of production, voice quality and power, although objective evidence was missing. Thisstraightforward protocol could thus be beneficial if routinely utilized by professional actors to facilitate the voiceperformance.