Matthias Echternach1, Tobias Baumann2, Johan Sundberg3, Bernhard Richter1, Michael Markl4
1Department of Musicians Medicine, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 2Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 3Department of Speech, Music and Hearing, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden; 4Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
To date only few studies have focused on vocal tract shape in register transitions. It was therefore the purpose of this study to employ optimized real-time MRI with high temporal update rates and additional 3D volumetric imaging at 3T for the detailed assessment of the vocal tract in professional tenors. We analyzed vocal tract modifications associated with a shift of vocal register. The results confirm that vocal tract changes occurred in few parameters only, when the singer shifted register from modal to falsetto, while several and substantial modifications were found when the singers ended their sequence in voix mixte.