ppopolo.github.io

Digital Health Applications

From Straw Phonation to Resonant Voice

In this week’s blog post I’d like to talk some more about Straw Phonation exercises and their benefits for speaking and singing. We’ll discuss in more detail what the exercise does for the voice production mechanism while using the straw, and how it helps promote a more resonant and more efficient voice in real life, i.e., when you’re not using the straw.

Straw Phonation or Straw Voice exercises are also known as Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract exercises, or SOVT for short. Most generally, “occlusion” means closure or blockage, and in phonetics, it refers to a momentary stoppage of air in the production of certain speech sounds (phonemes), such as “p”, “t”, or “k”. If you take a moment to produce each of those sounds right now, you’ll find that certain parts of your mouth create a constriction to cut off the flow of air for a split-second while you are making the sound – the closed lips in the case of the “p”, the tip of your tongue to the back of your teeth for “t”, and the tongue to the roof of your mouth for “k”. When you make these types of sound, it causes an accumulation of pressure just behind the mouth constriction. A semi-occlusion is then a partial closure or constriction of the mouth, that serves to limit the flow of air but not stop it completely. Another fun fact: whereas “p”, “t”, and ”k” are voiceless speech sounds, meaning there is no sound coming from your voice box when you say them, just the sound of air, the equivalent voiced phonemes “b”, “d”, and “g” require the exact same mouth movements but also happen with the sound of your voice mixed in with the air - again, take a few seconds to try it right now. It turns out that singing teachers and acting coaches have long recognized and advocated semi-occlusion with voicing as a warm-up exercise, a kind of “resistance training” for your voice. The well-known acting coach Kristen Linklater had her students do lip trills; renowned singing teacher Berton Coffin taught the “standing wave” method (I was taught to bring my open hand to my mouth and form a seal with the lips around the web between your thumb and forefinger, sing a vowel sound into the closure and then release into an open-mouth vocalization); other singing teachers and voice therapists advocate tongue trills (a.k.a. “raspberries” or the “Bronx cheer”), nasal consonants (such as “m” and “n”), and my personal favorite “nyeah, nyeah, nyeah” (as in “No-yeah”) in the obnoxious tone of 3rd-grade playground teasing. Even singing through lip-constricted vowels such as “u” (ooh) or “i” (eee) has semi-occlusion benefits.

Using a straw to phonate through is just another type of SOVT exercise. The possible benefits of straw phonation over some of the other exercises include having a controlled, constant aperture size; being easier for folks who can’t make their lips floppy enough to do lip trills or train their tongues to do the “Bronx cheer”; allowing for the use of quite a lot of lung pressure, for exercising the respiratory system, without creating a loud sound and thereby damaging the vocal folds; and the fact that is relatively quiet and absolutely “dry”, allowing vocalists to warm up in public places without drawing attention to themselves. As these characteristics of straw phonation indicate, the key to the exercise is to produce a strong, steady flow of air to create a light, soft (in terms of loudness) sound, with no straining or sputtering.

Now let’s take a moment to describe the mechanics of what happens when you phonate into a straw. Remember how we said semi-occlusion exercises are like resistance training for the voice? Well, another word for resistance is impedance, and impedance can be defined as something that prevents (or impedes) the progress of something else (think “impediment”). A small tube can be thought of as presenting a high impedance to the flow of air, i.e., it creates a greater resistance to flow, and a large tube presents a small amount of resistance or low impedance to airflow. So, in terms of our voice production system, inside our larynx (voice box) the small opening or space between our vibrating vocal folds, known as the glottis, and the narrow section above the glottis, a.k.a the epilarynx, both have a high impedance, whereas the wide opening of our mouth at the lips would have a low impedance. Now here comes the analogy-to-electrical-circuits part: in electrical circuit theory, the Maximum Power Transfer Theorem (the formal name for “impedance matching”) says that for the most efficient transfer of power (energy), say from a sound source like a stereo amplifier to the sound “sink” or load like a speaker, the impedance of the source must be matched to the impedance of the load. What phonating through a straw does in the voice production system is to match the sound source of the vibrating vocal folds at the glottis to the load of our open mouth at the lips, creating a more efficient transfer of sound into the air in front of us.

Along with this efficient transfer of acoustic power comes a build up of pressure in the vocal tract, what we might call “back-pressure”, which has the effect of squaring up and separating the vocal folds so that they are only lightly touching during the closed phase of vibration (the obvious benefit of which is less trauma to the vocal folds from the collision forces during vibration). Another effect is that the column of pressurized air above the glottis creates a push-pull effect with the pressure between the vocal folds, which enhances and sustains the vibration or oscillation of our vocal folds much like a child pumping their legs at the top of the cycle while swinging on a playground swing keeps the swing going (this is a simple statement of a very elegant theory of non-linear systems that helps explain how our vocal folds self-sustain their oscillation during voicing). Yet another effect of straw phonation is that it taps into our vocal resonance mechanisms by creating a perceptible vibration sensation in the front of the face, producing a “forward feeling” of the sound and a “buzz” behind the upper lip, eyes, and nose, an area known to singers as the “mask” (not the one made out of cloth!) that is so important to resonant voice production. A quick word about resonance, as it applies to voice – I describe it as a boost or enhancement of the intensity of our voice sound that uses the spaces or cavities in our head, neck, and upper chest, such as the sinuses, nasal cavity, oral cavity, and the trachea. To be clear, even though I often use the analogy of your voice sounding more “booming” when you speak or sing in a large vaulted cathedral, that’s not what I mean by “vocal resonance.” Tapping into our voice’s resonance has nothing to do with using the acoustic properties of the room (or opera house) you happen to be in, but rather has everything to do with the biomechanics of our voice production system and using the interaction of our sound source and the cavities of our head, neck, and chest to enhance the vibration of the vocal folds and make their operation more efficient.

So how does one properly do the straw voice exercises? First and foremost, it is important to form a tight seal with your lips around the straw, and not let any air escape through your nose or out the sides of your mouth. You should, however, feel air coming out of the end the straw. Next, use the straw to do all the normal vocal warm-ups and exercises that actors and singers use daily, such as good old-fashion scales and vocal sirens. Use the straw for pitch range exercises (scales, pitch glides), singing (even a simple melody like “Happy Birthday”), and intonation and stress patterns of spoken dialogue. In fact, vocalizing up to the high end of our pitch range and singing “Happy Birthday” in a high, soft voice causes our vocal folds to become long and stretched, which in turn creates much less forceful contact when they come together during vibration. Try it!

Use a variety of straws with different diameters: small, or about 3 to 3.5 mm, such as a coffee stirring straw, for creating greater resistance and more back-pressure to stretch and separate the vocal folds; medium, or about 6 mm, such as a soda or drinking straw, for more moderate pressures helpful for relaxing a tired voice or for when you’re just starting out; and large, up to about 9 or 10 mm, such as straws for drinking milk-shakes or drinks made from crushed ice, to help in the transition to more open-mouth postures or vowels such as /u/ and /i/ (“ooh” and “eee”). Changing the semi-occlusion opening is as simple as using different straws, assuming that one can still have easy access to the different types of straws from restaurants, fast-food joints, and coffee shops. The effect of straw length is not significant for these exercises, so don’t worry about that – make it easy to carry them in your pocket or your purse.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the carryover, or generalization, of straw phonation into speech and singing with ”normal” mouth openings, i.e., for all those times when you don’t want to sing or speak through a straw. Just as any form of training, be it athletic or educational, uses extreme methods to achieve a desired feeling or result that helps one become familiar with the body positions or procedures to achieve that result, so too straw phonation can help you learn how to make the subtle adjustments in the vocal mechanism to achieve more efficient, resonant voice in everyday speech. It also helps in relating efficient sound production to a “buzzing” sensation in the mask – “the sound I feel” that is essential for learning to maintain vocal efficiency. Also, becoming familiar with the feeling of narrowing or constriction in the front of the mouth can help singers to progress to and become comfortable with epilaryngeal tube narrowing, which is thought to be responsible for the phenomenon of “singer’s formant” that allows the voice to project over the orchestra pit and carry from the stage to the back of the opera house. Using this “hooked-up” sound when delivering speech or voice with the mouth wide open, as in loud speaking and singing or certain vowel shapes, can be equivalent to oral semi-occlusion in terms of effect and benefit.

To sum it all up, straw phonation is a simple, inexpensive, fast, and easy way to exercise your vocal apparatus, to get it in shape and keep it in shape for times when we need to up our voice game, as well as a valuable tool for professional voice users such as actors and singers to have in their arsenal. Like any exercise, it helps us to learn about and familiarize ourselves with efficient movement and modes of vocal production, and to carry over that learning into everyday singing and speaking tasks.

References:

“Voice Training and Therapy With a Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract: Rationale and Scientific Underpinnings”, by Ingo R. Titze, Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, vol. 49: 448-459, April 2006

“Voice Research: Phonation Into A Straw As A Voice Building Exercise”, by Ingo R. Titze, Journal Of Singing, vol. 59: 27-28, Sept 2000

Contact me today and let's turn YOUR app idea into reality in as little as 5 weeks!