Effect of voice training on lung volumes in singers and the possible relationship to the damping factor of Pressman

Abstract

In an attempt to document the presumed relationship between vocal efficiency and respiratory efficiency in singers, and the effects of vocal training on both, vital capacity (VC), total lung capacity (TLC), residual volume (RV), inspiratory capacity (IC), expiratory reserve volume (ERV) and functional residual volume (FRV) were compared in professionally trained singers, students of voice and in subjects with no vocal training. The results showed that many of the professional singers had a markedly low RV/TLC ratio, while the ratio in students of voice was intermediate between that of the professional and those without voice training, who had the highest RV/TLC ratios. There appeared to be a correlation between length of vocal training and improvement in vocal ability, as reflected by the RV/TLC values. All of the students whose RV/TLC ratios were within two standard deviations of the predicted value had received five years or less of training, while the professional singers, with RV/TLC ratios substantially lower than predicted values, had an average of 14 years of training. It seems clear, therefore, that there is a specific correlation between increased breathing capacity, as reflected by a reduction in RV/TLC and long-term vocal training and further that the professional singer attains an increased capacity in effect by expanding the proportion of VC within TLC. The results also suggest that the increased breathing capacity may be a crucial factor augmenting the damping factor described by Pressman in the production of the high tones of the head voice.