Distorted vocal effects used in extreme metal and contemporary styles present unique diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Although often perceived as aggressive or potentially harmful, emerging evidence shows that these sounds can be produced with physiological efficiency and may promote semi-occluded vocal tract postures that enhance glottic stability and airflow balance (Warner & Kervin, 2024).
Building on this work, the proposed workshop aims to unite scientific and clinical perspectives through case studies of professional and disordered voice users. Distortion is presented as a framework for understanding and guiding efficient, sustainable vocal production, with clinical examples demonstrating its rehabilitative potential across hyperfunctional, hypofunctional, and neurogenic voice disorders.

Videoendoscopy, aerodynamic profiling, acoustic analysis, respiratory kinematics, and MRI-based vocal tract imaging will illustrate how subglottic pressure modulation, supraglottic shaping, and nonlinear source–filter coupling generate distorted timbres and how these mechanisms can be applied therapeutically to support vocal stability.
Participants will learn to identify physiological and acoustic signatures of distortion, differentiate adaptive from maladaptive vocal patterns, and implement science-informed strategies in both clinical and pedagogical settings. Featuring demonstrations by professional extreme vocalists, the workshop bridges research, performance, and therapy to expand clinical literacy and reframe distortion as a controlled, efficient extension of human voice production.