Laryngeal Dystonia in Professional Singers

Neuroleptic-induced Laryngeal Dystonia

Although neuroleptics, prescribed for psychiatric conditions, are by far the commonest drugs known to produce acute dystonia, other drugs such as prochlorperazine, metoclopramide, tetrabenazine etc., prescribed for non-psychiatric conditions, are also known to produce this side effect the common factor is the ability of the drug to produce a central inhibition of dopaminergic neurotransmission....

GNAL mutation in isolated laryngeal dystonia.

BACKGROUND Up to 12% of patients with laryngeal dystonia report a familial history of dystonia, pointing to involvement of genetic factors. However, its genetic causes remain unknown. METHOD Using Sanger sequencing, we screened 57 patients with isolated laryngeal dystonia for mutations in known dystonia genes TOR1A (DYT1), THAP1 (DYT6), TUBB4A (DYT4), and GNAL (DYT25). Using functional MRI, w...

Replicability and accuracy of pitch patterns in professional singers

Consistency of phonatory breathing patterns in professional operatic singers.

Breathing strategy is generally regarded as an important factor in operatic singing, because it is assumed to affect phonation. If so, professional singers should exhibit well-controlled, replicable breathing movements when repeating the same phrase. The purpose of the present study was to investigate to what extent professional opera singers show a consistent, exhalatory breathing behavior in ...

Spectrum effects of subglottal pressure variation in professional baritone singers.

The audio signal from five professional baritones was analyzed by means of spectrum analysis. Each subject sang syllables [pae] and [pa] from loudest to softest phonation at fundamental frequencies representing 25%, 50%, and 75% of his total range. Ten subglottal pressures, equidistantly spaced between highest and lowest, were selected for analysis along with the corresponding production of the...