Episode Transcript
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0:02
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the UEP podcast. Today, we take you to Finland to speak
0:08
to our friend, Professor Ann-Maria Laukonen.
0:10
She's a speech technique and vocology professor at the University of Tampere.
0:15
Besides extensive research on voice, she also teaches speech techniques,
0:19
proper voice use, and voice research pathology.
0:22
Her book, The Wonderful Human Voice, fundamentals of sound use and speech technique,
0:28
evaluation, measurement and development has been used in Finnish University
0:33
for speech therapy and vocology since 1999.
0:37
Hi Anne-Maria, very good to have you in our recording today. How are you?
0:42
I'm fine, thank you. Thank you for agreeing to joining our UEP podcast and I'm
0:48
really glad that you bring your expertise to us today to talk about I believe,
0:52
this topic of your passion. How did you end up in this position with a background of interest in voice and
0:58
what brought you to come to this topic of research?
1:03
Well, my interest in voice started long ago when I was studying classical singing.
1:09
I wanted to know how we produce voice and what makes our voices sound so different,
1:15
what the professional singers do differently so that they sound so much better
1:22
than me and why we are supposed to do various exercises.
1:27
So I entered the university to study
1:30
philosophy but since I was so interested in voice I started to search for subjects
1:37
that could give me answers about voice and singing and I I ended up studying
1:44
speech communication and voice research and speech science,
1:48
which is also called phonetics.
1:51
Wow, that is a really fascinating background with you applying philosophical
1:57
principle into your voice research.
1:59
So what is your main research interest at the moment?
2:02
During the years, I have done quite a lot of studies on semi-occluded vocal tract exercises.
2:13
Exercises but in addition I have
2:16
studied also expression of
2:20
emotions in voice both in speech and singing and how the voice quality of the
2:28
speaker affects impressions we get on the speaker and effects and mechanisms of vocal overloading.
2:38
At the moment, I'm leading a project on singing voice, funded by the Academy of Finland.
2:44
The project concerns efficiency and economy in two different kinds of loud singing,
2:52
namely classical Western operatic singing and so-called belting in rhythm music.
2:59
You mentioned a really wide range of research topics in your portfolio,
3:03
which I'm really interested in most of them. Maybe we could start focusing on
3:07
the semi-occluded vocal tract exercise based on your research.
3:11
What does it do to our voice and why do you teach this?
3:16
Yes, semi-occluded vocal tract exercises, SOFTI, they are exercises that constrict
3:24
or prolong the vocal tract. And when we constrict or prolong the vocal tract, it reduces airflow during
3:34
phonation, and consequently the overall air pressure increases.
3:39
And that reduces the difference in air pressure below and above the vocal folds,
3:47
so-called transglottic pressure, which is the driving force of the vocal fold vibration.
3:54
So the amplitude of vibration of the vocal folds decreases and the vocal folds
4:03
get into contact more gently.
4:06
We can say that the so-called impact stress diminishes.
4:12
And at the same time, we also feel sound vibrations in the vocal tract more
4:19
clearly, more strongly, because the air pressure in the vocal tract is higher.
4:24
And so, these kind of exercises give us an example of how it feels when the
4:32
sound production is economic and efficient.
4:35
Also, the air pressure built in the vocal tract, which is diminishing the airflow
4:43
or slowing down the airflow rate,
4:46
it gives sensation about how breath support feels like.
4:51
That is the sensation that you have air in your lungs and you do not push it
4:58
out, but you keep it, you control the airflow rate.
5:04
Typically, the voice sounds louder and phonation feels easier immediately after softy.
5:14
That is really, really great explanations in terms of the semi-occluded vocal
5:19
track exercise or softy that we're going to call it.
5:21
Is this something that you think is suitable for everyone? one?
5:24
Well, softy can be used for people who have breath-definition.
5:31
So it suits to different types of problems, not for every problem.
5:38
For instance, if we are talking about voice disorders like spasmodic dysphonia,
5:45
it doesn't respond to this kind of exercises.
5:48
But otherwise, voice. They are quite nice exercises both to train normal voiced
5:56
people and to be used in voice therapy.
6:01
If there are different types, what are the main difference between them?
6:05
What is common to all soft is that they reduce airflow rate because they constrict
6:13
or prolong along the vocal tract.
6:16
But there can be different types of softness.
6:20
For instance, the main difference can be whether you have one single vibrator,
6:27
that is the vocal folds vibration,
6:29
or if you have a double vibrator that interrupts the airflow and makes the overall pressure oscillate.
6:38
For instance, if you produce lip trill or tongue trill sound or if you phonate
6:48
through a tube in water and the water starts bubbling.
6:53
And there are different kinds of mechanic buzzers that interrupt the airflow
6:59
and thus make the oral pressure oscillate.
7:03
This oral pressure oscillation in the vocal tract can be felt like massage,
7:08
relaxing massage in the vocal tract.
7:12
Using the airflow to massage it, is that right? What gives this massage effect
7:16
is that when the airflow is interrupted repeatedly,
7:21
that makes the oral pressure oscillate and that That gives you this massage effect or feeling.
7:32
And then there are, you can differentiate softy into low resistance and high resistance exercises.
7:41
If you have a very thin straw, inner diameter below or at 3 millimeter,
7:49
then you have high resistance exercise.
7:52
And if you have a tube with inner diameter of one centimeter and you phonate
8:00
into it so that the outer end is in air, so then you have a low-resistance exercise.
8:07
With this high-resistance exercise, you can get more clear results.
8:13
There is plenty of research on that,
8:18
but this low resistance exercise may also be good, for instance,
8:24
for transfer, for the period when you change from the high resistance exercise into speech or singing.
8:34
Then you can use these low-resistance exercises in the middle.
8:39
And of course, if you have a wider tube and you put it into water,
8:44
then you can change the resistance.
8:47
If you have the tube submerged maybe two or three centimeters below water,
8:54
then you have a low-resistance exercise with double vibration.
8:59
Or if you put the tube deeper in water, like 10 centimeters,
9:04
beneath the surface, then you have a higher resistance exercise.
9:10
If we compare this situation, that you have so-called resonance tube or flexible laxbox type tube,
9:18
which is, they are wider tubes in a diameter about one centimeter and the length
9:26
about 30 or 35 centimeters.
9:29
If you put that 10 centimeters in water, you get relatively high resistance,
9:36
but not as high as you get with a thin straw, the outer end in air.
9:44
Is this something that, I mean, most people can try at home,
9:48
or do they need to see someone specific to tailor what they need for their exercise type?
9:54
I think that it's good that everybody gets some kind of instruction how to use these exercises.
10:01
But it's important that you have good body posture,
10:06
your head position is good, and you use your respiratory muscles and do not
10:15
strain from your laryngeal muscles.
10:20
The UEP VoiceBox would now like to thank and acknowledge our episode sponsor,
10:25
Dr.Vox, a company dedicated to the research and development of the human voice.
10:32
The Dr.Vox voice therapy technique is a multidimensional treatment and training
10:36
system for voice professionals. In the voice clinic, the Dr.Vox therapy system is a holistic therapy.
10:43
Just a couple of benefits you'll enjoy with the Dr.
10:46
Vox method are improved vowel quality and better control of breathing.
10:51
The Dr. Vox devices are based on functionality, high-quality materials, and hygiene.
10:57
The research and development process continues with new advancements.
11:02
For more information, visit DrVox.com.
11:07
As we always say, voice is produced using our entire body as an instrument,
11:11
and obviously the voice box is the most important part.
11:14
And I really like the idea that you explain where there is difference in the
11:17
pressure that can then generate a difference in pressure resulting in the massaging
11:21
effect that can really improve the voice production.
11:26
And is this something that, you know, if one is deemed suitable to adopt this
11:31
exercise, are they meant to do this every day or any particular type of the
11:35
day or before certain exercises or activities?
11:38
Well, in general, if we talk about people who do not have any particular voice disorders,
11:45
you can use these exercises for warming up your voice before you use your voice
11:52
or cooling down after some working day when you have used your voice a lot.
11:59
Something like five minutes per day in the morning, in the evening.
12:04
Meaning that's something, maybe a guideline, how you can use it.
12:09
And I think that it's important that everybody tries what feels good.
12:15
That is really useful. I mean, can this be harmful, you reckon,
12:19
with this exercise itself? Well, basically, softies are quite safe to use because, firstly,
12:28
they are quite natural. We have various semi-occlusions in our languages.
12:34
We have trills and voiced fricatives, and then we have nasals.
12:43
All these are different types of semi-occlusions. Also, closed vowels,
12:49
for instance, y or u, are semi-occlusions, so they are natural.
12:55
And the second important thing is that by nature, semi-occluded vocal tract
13:02
exercises reduce vocal loading because they reduce this transglottic pressure.
13:10
So they are quite safe from that point of view.
13:14
But of course, it's possible that whatever you do, when you phonate loudly and
13:21
effortfully and for too long, you may get tired.
13:27
But we have some recent measurements, estimations of this impact stress.
13:34
Which is the main loading factor in voice production.
13:37
And we were able to see that, yes, if you produce semi-occlusions with effort,
13:44
it increases this impact stress a bit, but not so much as loud phonation without any occlusion.
13:52
And this is a good thing to know, that you can train high subclotic pressures,
13:59
which you may need, for instance, in high-pitched, loud singing.
14:06
So you can train these with a thin, high-resistance straw without getting the
14:14
vocal folds too forcefully into contact.
14:17
But there can be other loading mechanisms, like you need to use your adductor muscles a bit more,
14:27
adductor muscles that put the vocal folds closer to each other.
14:32
And if you do that kind of phonation very long, your adductors may get tired,
14:39
and that may give you unpleasant sensations in the larynx.
14:44
And there may be a small risk,
14:47
which you need to be aware of, that if you do this kind of high-resistance exercising
14:52
very often, very long time, you may get a tendency to use more hyperfunctional voice.
15:02
That is to use adduction a little bit more than you need to or what is good.
15:10
And that means that now I try to make the adduction stronger.
15:15
First, it's like I normally use, and then I can make it tighter.
15:20
And this was an example of phonation, which is called pressed or hyperfunctional.
15:28
There is more adduction between the vocal folds.
15:32
This kind of results have been observed in clinics after patients have used
15:40
PEEP, positive expiratory pressure exercises,
15:44
blowing through a tube into water or into some resistance-offering devices.
15:52
This kind of treatment is used to clean the airways.
15:58
And after this kind of PIP training, some people start using a hyperfunctional voice.
16:06
So you need to be careful that you really increase the effort with expiratory
16:12
muscles and not using at the same time increased adduction.
16:17
It sounds like it is giving the vocal muscles like a stress training,
16:22
but in a non-harmful way, so you can then increase the stamina and also with
16:26
the volume projections as well. Would you agree with that?
16:30
Yes, yes. There are results showing beneficial effects immediately after softening.
16:37
There are results that subclotic pressure is a bit higher,
16:43
voice is louder, the vocal tract may
16:46
adapt a more beneficial position the
16:49
larynx goes down a bit the pharynx is
16:52
wider and epilaryngeal tube
16:55
just above the vocal folds it gets narrower it may be just a result of this
17:03
pharyngeal widening and laryngeal lowering and this kind of a vocal tract so
17:10
to say a good resonance space.
17:14
And your vocal folds, when your larynx goes down a bit, your vocal folds get a bit separated,
17:23
and that gives them freedom to vibrate and reduces vocal loading.
17:30
So this kind of changes are beneficial, and they may take place soon after this kind of exercising.
17:39
But of course, it's always with exercising that you do not get permanent big results right away.
17:47
That is so true with the sustained effect. You do need the persistent effort.
17:52
Is there something you do yourself as well before you start your singing?
17:56
Well, if we think about what I do in teaching, I use semi-occlusions,
18:03
but also other types of exercises.
18:06
And especially, I think that boundary condition exercises are very important to start with.
18:13
Such exercises that make the body adopt a more relaxed, better position,
18:21
starting from the whole body and your head position,
18:26
your body position, your larynx goes down freely, your jaw is relaxed,
18:33
your pharyngeal constrictors are relaxed, to your tongue.
18:38
The back of the tongue is flat and completely relaxed, and the diaphragm goes down.
18:47
You feel it as some stretching in the back, low back, and some pressure in the pelvic floor.
18:57
And this kind of boundary condition gives freedom to the instrument to just
19:03
play itself instead of of the idea that we would make the sound.
19:10
And I have two favorite exercises which aim to get everything important at once
19:18
because they are somehow innate to everybody.
19:22
Try this. If you take a good body posture,
19:27
I like to find it so that I raise my hands high up, Then I inspire and stretch
19:37
the body up, and then arms down,
19:41
the palms up, so that you get your shoulders in a good position.
19:47
Then you check that your pelvis is in the mid position.
19:53
Then you are longer in a free way. And now, if you look somewhere very far,
20:00
and you open your eyes wide, that you see something very, very surprising.
20:05
If you're able to get this kind of image in yourself, it can give you everything,
20:13
which is very, very good phonation.
20:16
Namely, I can feel that my jaw drops.
20:19
It's completely relaxed, mouth opens a little bit, larynx goes down,
20:25
and I feel a kind of pressure on the pelvic floor, and my feet,
20:31
they get more tightly against the ground.
20:35
Then I'm ready to speak or sing.
20:39
And everything comes immediately at the same time.
20:42
If you're able to really get this astonishment in your body.
20:48
Another thing is a little bit yawning. If you have your mouth very lightly closed
20:55
so that your jaws are separate from each other, you breathe through the nose.
21:03
And you think that you feel like yawning, but you don't want to show that you are yawning.
21:09
You may think that it's not so polite to start yawning, so it's just the beginning
21:14
of yawning that you feel. And what happens then is that your larynx starts going down,
21:21
and your palate, soft palate,
21:24
goes up a bit, and your vocal tract gets a good position for speech and singing.
21:32
You may try this. You can even make your sound bigger from this position by
21:39
spreading a bit your nostrils.
21:42
If you add to this beginning of yawning, this spreading of nostrils,
21:49
you get more space in your vocal tract.
21:52
The palate goes up and the larynx goes even more strongly down quite freely.
22:00
Everything happens automatically. And now you can try this, that you first produce M sound,
22:08
like humming sound, so that you bite your jaws close together,
22:14
bite your teeth, and then there is your tongue is up against the palate,
22:23
like glued to the palate, and then drop your tongue.
22:29
Back of your tongue, let it drop.
22:32
Let your jaws drop while you are producing this humming sound.
22:37
You feel that it's easier, your sound is bigger.
22:44
Bigger and darker. And if you add spreading of the nostrils,
22:51
it gives even more volume to the voice because the soft palate goes up.
23:00
So this kind of exercises, boundary condition exercises I use in teaching and
23:06
also for myself, I find them very, very nice because they are innate,
23:11
they are automatic, and you can train your voice without phonating at all.
23:17
You just feel how your body functions when you get surprised and when you start yawning a bit.
23:25
The UEP VoiceBox would now like to thank and acknowledge Our episode sponsor, Dr.
23:31
Vox, a company dedicated to the research and development of the human voice.
23:36
The Dr. Vox voice therapy technique is a multidimensional treatment and training
23:41
system for voice professionals. In the voice clinic, the Dr. Vox therapy system is a holistic therapy.
23:48
Just a couple of benefits you'll enjoy with the Dr. Vox method are improved
23:53
vowel quality and better control of breathing. The Dr.
23:57
Vox devices are based on functionality, high-quality materials, and hygiene.
24:02
The research and development process continues with new advancements.
24:07
For more information, visit DrVox.com.
24:12
I have been trying to do this while you were instructing us.
24:16
I know we're doing this podcast so people can't really see, but actually I do
24:19
feel the difference where you were talking about being astonished and looking
24:22
with the position and how you relax.
24:25
So increase the resonance space that you have
24:27
within your sound track in order to produce the voice
24:30
i think that is really interesting exercise i'm going to start doing
24:33
it on a regular basis now and i also particularly like you say you don't need
24:37
to have particularly making sound in order to train your voice and i think that
24:41
is really interesting you mentioned earlier that you you also teach voice you
24:46
have provide vocal training so what are the main goals and how do you proceed
24:50
to these goals when you trained vocal use.
24:54
The main goal is balance, phonation balance, maximum output with minimum effort.
25:02
So that the voice is free, it's well-functioning, effortless.
25:07
It improves vocal endurance.
25:10
It gives pleasure for phonation. And I start with this kind of boundary condition exercises.
25:19
One thing I didn't mention yet about respiration.
25:24
I've started to train respiration in an inverse way.
25:29
Not so that I put all focus on inspiration, but rather on expiration.
25:37
Because if we focus on inspiration and how you should inspire,
25:42
that makes you do too much, exaggerate, and you may start using panic breathing.
25:50
You breathe high up in the lungs, and that is not good.
25:56
So instead, I start by exhalation, by actively using abdominal muscles,
26:04
particularly the lower part of the body, of the torso, and you exhale all that you can.
26:13
And then you relax the abdominal muscles. And what happens?
26:16
You breathe without thinking of it. And the same, by the way,
26:20
happens when you get surprised.
26:23
You breathe without thinking of it at all. And at the same time,
26:29
you breathe deep breathing. You can feel it, your feet meet the ground more strongly when you get surprised.
26:37
And when you let inspiration be automatic,
26:42
after you have first exhaled so that you blow the air out by using your abdominal
26:51
muscles, then you let them be free, relaxed,
26:55
and the air comes in and you don't have to think about it.
26:59
So that kind of automatic inhalation, I think it's very beneficial for voice
27:04
production. And it is also something that everyone can do any time of the day, pretty much, really.
27:10
And it does help with the relaxation, as you were talking about earlier.
27:14
So I think that voice training is important.
27:17
It should be included in the curriculum of all future voice professionals.
27:24
Absolutely, because it would improve the skills needed in a vocal profession.
27:30
And it would make improvement in communicational skills and give pleasure in
27:38
voicing and increase self-confidence. Attendance.
27:42
I couldn't agree more with the way that you explained that we have to be able
27:46
to use our voice in a good way so that you can enjoy your voice and at the same
27:51
time not overstraining it. Someone who has not got very much of voice training in the background,
27:57
not really a professional voice user, but use voice on a regular basis as many
28:02
of us do with work or face-to-face interaction,
28:05
online meeting, and perhaps talking to children at home,
28:08
sometimes shouting at them inevitably what do
28:12
you have in terms of exercises that one can do
28:15
on their free time that is quite adaptable do you
28:18
have any recommendation well i think that these which i already mentioned this
28:22
silent voice training these boundary conditions exercises and then softy some
28:30
nice bubbling into water with a tube trying to keep the bubbles slow Slow,
28:38
steady, without effort.
28:40
These kind of exercises are very good.
28:43
It is important, I think, to realize when there is overstraining and when there is not.
28:52
Because I think that we are very vulnerable. Everybody.
28:57
Also, voice trainers and professional speakers and singers are vulnerable for
29:02
voice problems due to stress.
29:06
And bad working conditions, bad bodily postures and so on.
29:13
So it's very important to feel when your voice is relaxed, when your larynx is in good posture.
29:22
One big reason for voice problems is the fact that we have two opposing,
29:31
very strong, innate mechanisms.
29:36
That of swallowing and that of breathing. We need those, they are vital and
29:42
they are strong and they use the same part of the body.
29:47
And so they are somehow competing.
29:49
And we get not so good results for boys when we start using such muscles and
29:57
muscular patterns that are related to swallowing.
30:02
The larynx goes up and the pharynx gets smaller, the vocal folds get tighter together, and so on.
30:11
These changes are related to swallowing and stress, because these are security actions.
30:20
The main goal there is that you don't get anything in your lungs when you're
30:26
swallowing, so you squeeze your vocal organ.
30:30
And if you start doing that during speaking and singing, that causes you problems.
30:36
You need to use more effort and you increase your vocal loading.
30:42
While those muscular patterns that are related to breathing,
30:47
they open up your vocal tract and spread your vocal folds a bit apart.
30:55
Part and that gives you good basis for relaxed phonation.
31:00
Everybody feels how it is when you swallow and when you breathe and try to make
31:08
yourself remember how these two actions feel and whether you feel something
31:16
while you are phonating. It's good when you don't feel anything. You just feel relaxed and nothing else.
31:24
And that's the goal also during speaking and singing.
31:27
That is a really beautiful explanation because as you say, the larynx is functioned
31:32
as voicing, breathing and swallowing.
31:35
I think that is really, really important to be aware.
31:38
Breathing can really affect your relaxation of your laryngeal muscle,
31:42
providing you breathe in the correct way and not, as you said earlier,
31:47
over panicking inhalations with inspiration.
31:50
I think this is a really interesting session that I've learned so much.
31:55
Well, thank you very much, Professor Larkin. And I think this is such a pleasure
31:58
that we have you in our episode today.
32:02
I hope that everybody finds pleasure of phonation and finds the potential that
32:10
we all have and that we can find when we set our vocal organ free.
32:16
Before we go, do you have anything else you want to tell our audience?
32:21
We are so over controlling very often and instead we can get a lot of potential
32:29
to use from our vocal instrument when we just let it play itself so to say like a musical instrument,
32:40
thank you so much I really like the way you explain this is such a beautiful
32:45
way of looking at voice and particularly learning how to enjoy our voice and
32:50
this is something that we have all in ourselves and we should use it to our
32:53
pleasure economically efficiently and also not overworking it,
32:58
knowing how to preserve it and to exercise it.
33:02
Well, thank you so much again, Professor Larkin. I'm sure our audience will
33:06
really appreciate this episode. Thank you again, and I hope you have a good day. Thank you for listening to
33:11
the UEP podcast today. See you next time.
33:19
We hope you enjoy listening to the UEP Voice Box, a podcast by the Union of
33:23
European Phoneticians. The UEP Voicebox is a podcast created by the Union of European Phoneticians,
33:29
hosted by myself, Shih-Ying He, with sound engineering by Martin Isagunde,
33:33
and produced by Nicky Martinez. For more information, please visit us at www.uep.phonetics.eu or listen to more
33:42
episodes at uepvoicebox.com.
33:45
See you next time.
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