National Center for Voice and Speech

04/03/2026

An investigation is in order.

04/02/2026

ICYMI: Toe-to-Toe with Ingo is available for download on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen to fine audio programs.

Toe-to-Toe with Ingo is a podcast from the National Center for Voice and Speech featuring conversations between renowned voice scientist Dr. Ingo Titze and

04/01/2026

Introduction:
Laryngeal dystonia (LD) is a neurological voice disorder marked by strained voice quality, pitch instability, and sudden voice breaks, yet the mechanisms underlying impaired vocal control are poorly understood. One key process, known as pitch centering, reflects the central nervous system’s ability to correct early pitch deviations during an utterance by converging toward an intended target. While pitch centering provides a sensitive window into the neural control of spontaneous speech, it remains unexamined in patients with LD and is presumed to contribute to disordered regulation of voice production.

Methods:
Here, we examined pitch centering in 24 individuals with LD [adductor LD (n = 20), abductor LD (n = 3), or both (n = 1)] compared to 29 healthy controls. The primary outcome measures were: (1) pitch centering and (2) pitch movement.

Pitch centering was defined as the difference in the absolute values of initial (0–50 ms) and mid-trial (150–200 ms) pitch. Positive values (centering > 0) indicated a shift toward the median pitch, defined as centering trials. Pitch movement was defined as the difference between mid-trial and initial pitch.

In a subset of trials, we observed negative values of centering reflecting movement away from intended pitch targets, which we defined as anticentering trials. An additional subset of trials was defined as overshoot trials, instances where the normalized pitch movement crosses the median pitch at mid-trial.

Results:
Initial pitch deviation (p < 0.0001) and pitch movement magnitude (p < 0.0001) were significantly greater in individuals with LD compared to controls across all trials.

Importantly, individuals with LD exhibited more pronounced centering responses compared to controls, with greater centering magnitude observed by a significant group-by-tercile interaction (p = 0.028). Individuals with LD and controls showed similar distributions of centering and anticentering trial types. However, LD patients exhibited significantly greater centering magnitude compared to controls across each trial type.

Discussion:
These findings offer valuable insights into speech motor and predictive control processes in LD, with potential implications for clinical assessment and treatment strategies aimed at improving patient quality of life.

from the abstract to "Enhanced pitch centering in individuals with laryngeal dystonia" by Rabab Rangwala, et al. First published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, February 2026. Featured this week in NCVS Notes.

03/31/2026

Available now.

The material in this volume was delivered at the International Conference on the Physiology and Biophysics of Voice in Iowa City, Iowa, USA, May 7-11, 1983. It was the third in a series of conferences planned in the initial stages by several members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Voice Foun...

03/30/2026

"To a large degree, vocal fatigue may be similar, physiologically, to muscle fatigue in any other part of the body. We have all heard it said that singing is vocal athletics, especially if it is of the operatic kind. This would suggest that many of the principles associated with muscle growth, maintenance, and deterioration in athletics may also apply to vocal performance.

There are differences, however, that may make prolonged use of the vocal folds in phonation even more problematic than running or weight lifting, for example. Human body tissue is not specifically designed for vibration. In fact, aside from incidental noises made in passing air and snoring, we rarely engage in activities that involve vibrating and colliding tissue at a rate of 100 to 1000 times per second; phonation is the exception. Thus we may ask, are there special stress and fatigue factors associated with rapid acceleration and deceleration of tissue that add to the more common problem of muscle tiring?

Before we examine this question from a biomechanical point of view, it is worthwhile to point out some of the common signs of vocal fatigue. Visually, we perceive facial distortions, tensing of the neck and shoulders, perspiration on the forehead, some compromise in posture, and more frequent and unplanned inhalations. Throat clearing and swallowing may also become more frequent.

Auditorily, we perceive loss of intensity in the extremes of the pitch range. High notes and low notes become weaker, whereas the middle range is preserved a bit longer. Similarly, extremely soft notes and extremely loud notes suffer. The loss of high notes and loud notes is expected if the parallelism with athletics holds up, but the loss of low notes and soft notes is a bit puzzling. Surely a fatigued weightlifter can lift his lightest weight and a fatigued runner can walk without much trouble. Apparently singing soft and low involves more than simply reduced muscular effort."

from "A Further Look at Vocal Fatigue: Part 1" by Dr. Ingo Titze. First published in NATS Bulletin, a predecessor to the Journal of Voice. Sept/Oct. 1983 issue.

03/27/2026

Not sure that resonates.

03/26/2026

Abstracts are due next week!

03/25/2026

The March 2026 Edition of NCVS Insights is out! This month Dr. Marco Guzman and Dr. Kittie Verdolini tackle the topic of Primary Muscle Tension Dysphonia and why that term, in their words, "has got to go." Sign-up to get the latest insights delivered to your inbox.

NCVS Insights is a monthly publication dedicated to the advancement of science in the study of voice and speech production.

03/24/2026

Available now.

Sing and Shout for Health explores the remarkable impact of vocalization on human physiology, health, and well-being. Edited by renowned physicist Ingo R. Titze and vocologist Elizabeth C. Johnson, this groundbreaking book delves into scientific discoveries that reveal how singing, shouting, and oth...

03/23/2026

"If we consider one aspect of vocal quality to be a continuum between heavy (or full) voice on one extreme and light voice on the other extreme, we can choose (somewhat arbitrarily) two paths through this continuum: a ramp or a stair-step. The ramp would be analogous to the one-register voice, whereas the stair-step would be analogous to the multiple-register voice.

The necessity to change vocal quality along the heavy-light dimension comes from at least two demands, one being aesthetic and the other physiologic. Heavy and light qualities are needed for proper interpretation of music, but light registration may also be dictated by biomechanical and acoustic constraints at high pitches.

The electromyographic recordings of Hirano, Vennard, and Ohala (1970) on singers suggest that the vocalis muscle is less active at higher pitches and lighter registers (head and falsetto) than at lower pitches in the chest register. On the basis of the body-cover theory of pitch control (Hirano 1974; Fujimura 1981; Titze 1979), this would suggest that a lighter quality is usually associated with an elongated and stiffened mucosal covering of the vocal folds.

This is in contrast with a reduced vocal fold length (Hollicn 1960) and a slackened mucosal covering at lower pitches in the chest register."

from "Vocal Registers" by Dr. Ingo Titze. First published in NATS Bulletin, a predecessor to the Journal of Singing. March/April 1983

03/20/2026

Honestly, who writes these jokes?

03/19/2026

Announcing a brand new podcast from NCVS: Toe-to-Toe with Ingo. Listen and enjoy the first episode with Dr. Ted Mau and Dr. Elizabeth DiRenzo from Stanford Medicine at the Stanford OHNS as they explore the role of basic science in laryngology.

In the inaugural episode of Toe-to-Toe with Ingo, voice scientist Dr. Ingo Titze is joined by Stanford University laryngologists Dr. Ted Mau and Dr. Elizabeth DiRenzo for an in-depth conversation on the role of basic science in laryngology. Together, they explore how foundational scientific discipli...