The vocal folds vibrate at high frequency to create voice, and particularly opera singers produce their singing voice with the highest pitch up to 800Hz. This vibratory property is only equipped in the vocal fold mucosa. However, over-use or continuous high pitch phonation causes deterioration of the mucosa, and the singers always have the stress with the fear of possible damage to the vocal folds. The maintenance of the vocal fold is essential. Given that oxidative stress has been found to cause the damage to the vocal fold, the current study aimed to examine the effects of anti-oxidant for preserving the singing voice. Twenty six opera singers were involved in this study. Nine singers were Japanese and 17 singers were Bulgarian. Their ages varied from 34 to 77 years old (mean 51 years), and 12 singers were male while 14 singers were female. Twendee X, the strong anti-oxidant, was applied for 1 month. Singing voice handicap index-10 (SVHI-10) was assessed before and after the application of Twendee X. SVHI-10 were significantly decreased in all singers regardless of the nationality. The improvement degree was not affected by the baseline score of SVHI-10. The degree of improvement trended to be higher in the younger singers than in elderly singers. The highest improvement was observed in the vocal fatigue during singing and the capability to maintain singing. Anti-oxidant showed significant improvement in the singing voice handicap, which indicated the effects for maintenance of singing voice in the professional signers.
Brain Supplement 2023; 5: 1-7
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