Passaggio on chorists' voice range profile: preliminary study of frequency and intensity.
Nathália Suellen Valeriano Cardoso, Tatiany Cíntia da Silva Brito, Adriana de Oliveira Camargo Gomes
PMID 37729327WHAT IT FOUND
Passaggio breaks were visible or audible in no more than 30% of 67 trained choir singers.
They appeared more often in sopranos and tenors than contraltos and basses. The chart can locate breaks, but the study did not set standard values.
Key findings
01In the total sample, passaggio notes were identified in 29.9% of singers during strong ascending emissions and 16.5% during weak descending emissions.
02High voice types, sopranos and tenors, had greater percentages of identified breaks than low voice types, and together they made up 70% of singers in whom breaks were identified.
03When all singers were analysed together, the pitch of the break did not differ between ascending and descending emissions or between strong and weak emissions, but intensity did differ between strong and weak emissions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study included only 67 singers, and the number in each voice type was too small for full statistical comparison of passaggio note intensity. The singers were trained choir members with no voice complaints, so the results may not apply to patients with voice problems or untrained singers. Singing experience and practice time were not measured, so it is unclear how much training may have hidden or reduced audible breaks. The researchers selected the best of three recordings for analysis, which may not show each singer's usual voice. Passaggio identification depended on visual and auditory judgement by two therapists, not on an automatic objective rule. The study used sliding emissions, which may limit the voice range compared with note-to-note singing, and the authors note that different emission methods could change results. The authors state that larger studies are needed before reference values can be established.
Declared interests
The paper reports funding from Brazilian government agencies: CAPES, PROPG-UFPE and CNPq. No commercial conflicts of interest are reported.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use the median notes and intensities as standard passaggio locations for patients. The study was preliminary, included only trained singers without voice complaints, and the authors state larger studies are needed to establish reference values.