Psychometric and Acoustic Investigation of Identity and Phonotraumatic Vocal Hyperfunction.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this research was to explore how (1) identity orientation and (2) vocal congruence influence voice output characteristics in nonperformers with suspected phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction (PVH) compared with vocally healthy performers and vocally healthy nonperformers across varying identity conditions.

STUDY

DESIGN

The design was prospective cross-sectional.

METHODS

Participants were (1) nonperformers with suspected PVH (n = 11, 10 women; mean age = 23.27 years; SD = 8.28), (2) healthy vocal performers (n = 8, 4 women; mean age = 23.75 years; SD = 5.34), and (3) healthy nonperformers (n = 10, 8 women; mean age = 22.90 years; SD = 5.04). Participants improvised statements under four different identity conditions: self with one's own (habitual) point of view (hPOV), resonant voice with hPOV, British accent with hPOV, and Romeo/Juliet. Participants also completed questionnaires pertaining to identity (Social and Personal Identities Scale [Nario-Redmond et al, 2004]) and vocal congruence (Vocal Congruence Scale [Crow et al, 2021]). The voice outcome was mean cepstral peak prominence mCPP (dB) across identity conditions.

RESULTS

Only the PVH group showed a significant relationship between identity orientation and mCPP (dB) across identity conditions; as personal identity orientation increased, so did variation in mCPP (dB). Vocal congruence was not significantly associated with voice variations in any of the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals with PVH may vary vocal quality more than many others to express identity. Clinical implications point to the potential value of tailoring rehabilitation goals for PVH to patients' identity-centric needs.