| Abstract | Objective: Vocal loading, a common issue among professional voice users, requires consistent research. The effectiveness of vocal cool-down exercises, such as SOVTE and RVT, as therapeutic treatments for vocal changes induced by loading tasks is yet to be thoroughly investigated. This study compares the effectiveness of vocal warm-up exercises, SOVTE and RVT, in treating vocal changes induced by vocal loading tasks, highlighting the need for systematic investigation.
Methods/Design: This study involved 30 healthy young adults in a quasi-experimental design. A shorter duration (30 min) of vocal loading task of reading a rainbow passage while giving equal stress and sustaining five vowels at various pitches (High mid low) and loudness of 70 dB was designed. Participants were given a 30-minute vocal loading task, and then randomly assigned to either SOVTE or RVT techniques. Pre and post voice samples were recorded using acoustic, aerodynamic, self-perceptual measures. various measures. The data was found to be normally distributed using Shapiro-Wilk’s Test, and parametric tests were applied to the data.
Results: Significant differences observed between pre- and post-VLT scores on several parameters (p<0.05). In the treatment condition, significant differences noted between post-VLT and post-RVT scores for specific acoustic parameters such as shimmer (db) [t (12) =2.616, p = 0.02], shimmer percentage (%) [t (12) = 2.536, p = 0.02], fundamental frequency variation (vF0) [t (25) = 5.192, p = 0.001]. No statistically significant difference between post-VLT and post-SOVTE scores for most acoustic parameters except the average fundamental frequency [t (12) = .419, p = 0.001], Highest fundamental frequency [t (12) = .114, p = 0.001], lowest fundamental frequency [t (12) = .472, p = 0.001]. Both SOVTE and RVT led to significant improvement in aerodynamic and perceptual measures (p<0.05), with RVT showing more pronounced effects on acoustic measures. Vocal loading effects were effective and reversible with both therapy approaches.
Conclusion: Shorter and intensive vocal loading tasks can induce measurable voice changes. Both SOVTE and RVT are effective as immediate cool-down techniques to reverse vocal changes, with RVT having a more significant impact on acoustic measures. The long-term therapeutic efficacy of these techniques should be further explored for a better understanding of their individual benefits.
|
|---|