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Singing During Pregnancy May be Harder Due to Hormones

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One of the most dramatic hormonal fluctuations occurs during pregnancy, and many professional singers have experienced difficulty singing while pregnant. However, scientists do not know if this effect is due to hormones or to some other cause, such as decreased lung capacity as the baby grows.

In order to assess the effect of hormones on a pregnant singer's voice, Filipa Lã of Aveiro University in Portugal followed a professionally-trained Portuguese singer through 12 weeks of pregnancy and for 12 weeks after birth. Once a week -- including just two days after the baby was born -- Lã recorded the singer reading and singing into a device that measures the pressure exerted to make each sound. Then Lã collaborated with Johan Sundberg of KTH in Stockholm, Sweden to reconcile the data with measurements of the singer's hormone levels. Their findings will be presented on Wednesday, October 28 at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) in San Antonio, TX.

This was the first longitudinal study of the effect of hormones on a singer's voice during pregnancy, and Lã and Sundberg found that the increased levels of hormones correlated with changes to the singer's vocal folds. Though temporary, the changes forced the singer to exert more pressure from her lungs to make the same notes.

"It seems that it's harder work during pregnancy to sing," says Lã. She adds, however, that this is preliminary research based on a single case study and that larger studies would be needed before doctors could give solid advice to professional singers.

The talk "Observations of the singing voice during pregnancy. A case study" (3aMU7) by Filipa Lã is at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28.

Abstract: http://asa.aip.org/web2/asa/abstracts/search.oct09/asa355.html

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The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) is the premier international scientific society in acoustics devoted to the science of technology of sound. Its 7,500 members worldwide represent a broad spectrum of the study of acoustics. ASA publications include The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (the world's leading journal on acoustics), Acoustics Today magazine, books and standards on acoustics. The society also holds two major scientific meetings each year. For more information about ASA, visit our website at http://asa.aip.org.

Devin Powell | Quelle: Newswise Science News
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