#researchtues and #bangbang
Resonant Voice Therapy might have let you hold its hand in school, but I’m gunna show you how to graduate…haha. I can’t get that song off my radio!
When I came across the title to the research article I am featuring for this week’s Research Tuesday, I wondered to myself about my own “twang” and how often it probably rises to the surface since I’m from Texas. I treat clients often who have a twang of their own and I smile when it is very apparent because it makes me proud to be a Texan and to call this great state my home.
You all may be familiar with Resonant Voice Therapy and its uses for unloading the vocal mechanism. You may not be familiar at all with “Twang Therapy Techniques.” Joanna Lott defines it as, “an aryepiglottic narrowing to create a high intensity vocal quality while maintaining low vocal effort.” This is narrowing the aryepiglottic sphincter, as evidenced in this video. Elpida Koutsoubaki, Voice Therapist (from Athens, Greece), is using this to review the patient’s progress. She had received 3 voice therapy sessions leading up to this. “She is one of many patients with bilateral vocal fold paralysis for whom twang therapy has mercifully delivered a fully rehabilitated and functional voice (and breath support),” Elpida says.
Still wondering how Twang sounds? Think Lois Griffin from Family Guy. Yanagisawa, Lombard & Steinhauer describe it similar to an oboe, banjo or duck quack. I’m thinking, ‘Yeah I already have my patients try enough crazy sounds, what’s one more animal sound-a-like?’ It turns out, twanging, for lack of a better term (so as not to confuse others with Miley Cyrus and her antics) could really benefit a client in the therapy room.
Twang constricts the vocal tract in a way that clusters formants in an acoustically pleasing way because it complements the resonant frequency of the ear canal. Because it increases the perceived loudness levels for the listener, the client can increase volume without increasing effort. Pretty cool, huh?
And…..drumroll please….another guest appearance of, yes, wait for it….. INERTIVE REACTANCE. This is where the back pressure created by this “tube within a tube” eases the pressure and allows the vocal folds to self-sustain vibratory cycles with no excess effort for the patient or performer. (Just like Straw Phonation!)
But is there a danger of bad production habits? With any therapy technique, you must be knowledgeable about it going badly in order to keep your patients on the right side of the line. Aryepiglottic constriction has been found to be present in every-day vocal production, so it is safely utilized by the general public. Hyperfunction, on the other hand, is any false vocal fold medial constriction and is strictly prohibited because it recruits excess and unnecessary muscular effort to phonate. Make sure you are monitoring the difference carefully when utilizing this in the therapy room.
This can also treat the hypophonic voice, as a study by Lombard and Steinhauer proved in 2007. Vocal fold paralysis or atrophy can lead to a breathy, unsupported vocal quality. After receiving voice therapy sessions using twang intervention, all of the participants were very happy with the finished product and that they were increasing intensity without sacrificing effort or coming across like a country-music singer. I wonder how it would work with tandem with an LSVT approach?
When utilizingthis technique, it is important to know how to distinguish twang-y from nasal-y, as evidenced in this video. He is referencing Jo Estill’s twang teaching, and educating on how to utilize your aryepiglottic folds when twanging. He explains about the soft palate movement nicely as well.
More studies are needed to determine the effects of twang therapy, so “get a ride in the engine that could…go…” and twang twang into the research scene!
-ATVC
References:
Joanna Lott; The Use of the Twang Technique in Voice Therapy. Perspect Voice Voice Dis 2014;24(3):119-123. doi: 10.1044/vvd24.3.119.
Also, Elpida has offered to answer questions re. application of Twang to bilateral vocal fold paralysis.
You can reach her at ivoicetherapy@gmail.com.
Kristie Knickerbocker, MS, CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist and singing voice specialist in Fort Worth, Texas. She rehabilitates voice and swallowing at her private practice, a tempo Voice Center, and lectures on vocal health to area choirs and students. She also owns and runs a mobile videostroboscopy and FEES company, Voice Diagnostix. She is an affiliate of ASHA Special Interest Group 3, Voice and Voice Disorders, and a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Pan-American Vocology Association. Knickerbocker blogs on her website at www.atempovoicecenter.com. She has developed a line of kid and adult-friendly therapy materials specifically for voice on TPT or her website. Follow her on Pinterest, on Twitter and Instagram or like her on Facebook.
