Mitigating Dysphonia, Pain, and Vocal Handicap after Violent Video Game Voice Overs: A Pilot Investigation into Vocal Combat Technique Training

Objective

to investigate how the Vocal Combat Technique (VCT) may mitigate vocal symptoms in voice over actors using vocal violence.

Methods

Five voice over actors (3 male, 2 females, Mean = 29.6 years) completed two study sessions of 45 minutes-to-1 hour of vocally violent voice over work held approximately 4 weeks apart. During session one, participants completed voice over work as they typically would, whereas they received 3-hours of VCT training to improve/assist in healthy vocal techniques prior to session two. Pre- and post-session measures for both sessions included self-perceptual ratings of vocal symptoms, auditory-perceptual evaluation, and traditional acoustic measures of frequency and perturbation.

Results

Participants showed substantial mitigating effects of VCT training on acoustic perturbation measures (jitter, shimmer, harmonics-to-noise ratio), and self-ratings of vocal symptoms (Vocal-Handicap Index-10, McGill Pain Scale for vocal discomfort, and Evaluation of the Ability to Sing Easily) with calculated medium to large effect sizes (d = 0.61–1.95). There were no changes in auditory perceptual ratings across sessions.

Conclusion

Our pilot investigation yielded positive improvements in vocal symptomology in five voice over actors who were trained in VCT. Next steps should include a larger enrollment of voice actors to determine optimal preventative and recovery techniques.