title: Physiology and Acoustics of Inspiratory Phonation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Inspiratory phonation (IP) means phonating with inspiratory airflow. Some vocalists remarkably master this technique, to such an extent that it offers new dramatic, aesthetic, and functional possibilities in singing specific contemporary music. The present study aims to a better understanding of the physiological backgrounds of IP.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 51 inhaling utterances were compared with 61 exhaling utterances in a professional soprano highly skilled in inhaling singing, by means of high-speed single-line scanning and advanced acoustic analysis. Ranges of intensity and Fo were kept similar.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The main differences are: (1) an inversion of the mucosal wave, (2) a smaller closed quotient in IP, (3) a larger opening/closing quotient in IP with the additional difference that in IP, the quotient is larger than 1 (opening slower than closing), whereas it is less than 1 in expiratory mode (opening faster than closing), (4) a larger vocal-fold excursion in IP, (5) higher values of adaptive normalized noise energy in IP, and (6) a steeper slope of harmonic peaks in IP. However, jitter values are similar (within normal range), as well as damping ratios and central formant frequencies. The two voicing modes cannot be differentiated by blind listening.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The basic physiological mechanisms are comparable in both voicing modes, although with specific differences. IP is actually to be considered as an "extended vocal technique," a term applied to vocalization in art music, which falls outside of traditional classical singing styles, but with remarkable possibilities in skilled vocalists.
authors.affiliation: IPEM-Department of Musicology, School of Arts, University College, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vanhecke
authors.affiliation: Neurosciences Institute, University of Louvain B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lebacq
authors.affiliation: AZ Maria Middelares, Kortrijksesteenweg 1026, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moerman
authors.affiliation: Università degli Studi di Firenze, Department of Information Engineering, Via S. Marta 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Manfredi
authors.affiliation: University College, School of Arts, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Godfried-Willem
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Raes
authors.affiliation: IPEM-Department of Musicology, School of Arts, University College, Ghent, Belgium; Neurosciences, University of Leuven and Federal Institute of Occupational Diseases, Brussels, Belgium.. Electronic address: philippe.dejonckere@med.kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Philippe H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: DeJonckere
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001239:Inhalation; D007734:Kymography; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010699:Phonation; D063346:Singing; D013997:Time Factors; D014741:Video Recording; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000502:physiology*; D014833:Voice Quality
keywords: Closed quotient; Inspiratory voice; Jitter; NNE; Videokymography