Considerations and demands in the voice care of contemporary commercial singers in occupational health and safety aspects

Abstract

Singers, classified as "vocal performers" are at an increased risk of developing voice disorders. The area of contemporary commercial singing has not been studied as extensively as classical singing. Non-classical singing is generally considered detrimental to vocal health and thus the information on challenges contemporary commercial singers (CCS) pose to otolaryngologists and other healthcare professionals is scarce. The authors present an overview of contemporary commercial singing styles in comparison to classical singing, discuss the notion of non-classical style being harmful to vocal health, present major risk factors associated with developing voice disorders in contemporary commercial singers, and outline the diagnostic process of vocal health assessment in this group of occupational voice users. Given that contemporary commercial singers constitute a unique and vast group of elite vocal performers, the authors stress the importance of raising awareness among healthcare professionals of the fact that these patients require special considerations for voice evaluation and treatment in the occupational health and safety framework. Med Pr. 2022;73(1)

Population characteristics and self-assessment of speaking and singing voice in Polish contemporary commercial music singers—an exploratory, cross-sectional study

“…To date, the subject of CCM singers in Poland has not received enough attention. The only study we were able to identify in the literature addressing voice disorders in CCM singers is by Sielska Badurek et al ( 55 ) in which the authors assessed the voice quality and the vocal tract function in popular singing students ( N = 45) at the beginning of their singing training at the High School of Music. However, in comparison to the sample surveyed in our study ( N = 412), this group was much smaller and quite homogeneous in terms of age and population characteristics.…”

“…However, in comparison to the sample surveyed in our study ( N = 412), this group was much smaller and quite homogeneous in terms of age and population characteristics. In our previous work, we presented a literature review on the subject of CCM singers ( 55 ) to raise awareness among healthcare professionals of the special consideration and care CCM singers deserve. In the present research, we sought to study this group on a multifaceted level to get a broad picture of who Polish CCM singers are and to obtain data on their self-perceived voice symptoms and voice quality in speech and singing to determine the prevalence of voice problems in this population.…”