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Show Voice therapist imitates stars in patient treatment By JILLYN SMITH Science Writer Utah State University , A few weeks ago I dailed a long-distance number to hear a recording of some "faulty" voices. Some were voices most of us have heard before the voices of Walter Brennan, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis, and Don Adams as Maxwell Smart. But the imitator was not Rich Little. It was Dr. Daniel R. ' Boone , who has chosen voice therapy rather than the entertain ment circuit as his life's work. Boone helps people change annoying vocal habits, or habits that may be harmful to the vocal chords. The primary function of the "voicebox" or larynx is as a ' , valve to protect the airway; secondarily, it's used for sound. Mammals range in their use of the valve folds to make sound, i from the silent deer and rabbits to the supreme human musical , instrument, Luciano Pavarotti. The sound variety is related to changing the shape of the vocal folds and the space between them, the glottis. It's also affected ! by the tongue's position and the use of the resonating chambers in the nose and throat. A voice that sounds like a sputtering low-powered outboard motor is the "glottal fry," Boone says, it's pitched too low, with too little breath behind it. Pitch a glottal fry a little higher and you get Walter Brennan s voice. Bette Davis and Maxwell Smart are examples of the hard glottal attack. They open their vocal cords with a cough-like , blast to start every precise word. The hard glottal attack takes a lot of effort, and can eventually lead to voice problems, Boone says. Easy glottal attack is heard in the voice of Jimmy Carter and others with a Southern drawl. In the breathy voice, the vocal cords aren't completely closed. Speech and breathing take place at the same time, with the vocal folds only laxly held together. Jimmy Stewart has a pleasant nasal voice, in which the soft palate droops, allowing more air into the nasal cavities. Nasality varies in different regions of the country, but not many movie stars have extremely nasal voices, Boone says, because people don't like it. If a person has a bad head cold and a stuffy nose, the three nasal consonants, m, n and ng, are not properly resonated. reson-ated. In a baby voice, the tongue is held too far forward in the mouth. Holding the tongue too far back in the mouth makes the focus of the voice seem to be in the throat. I doubt if Boone's movie star examples would want to change their voice trademarks, but Boone and other voice and speech therapists help others find their best pitch, loudness, quality and resonance, to put their best voice forward. |
