Prosody: An Overview and Applications to Voice Therapy

Purpose: Prosody is the variation of dynamics, frequency, rate, and tone that carries contextual meaning in speech. The purpose of this study is to present an overview of prosody in speech from evolutionary, developmental and cultural perspectives, and to review implications in therapy for voice disorders. Methods: Cross-disciplinary overview. Results: Applications of prosody from linguistics, animal behavior, voice, music, and psychology were reviewed. Areas covered include evolutionary development of prosody in the form of animal models, linguistic and emotional overlays, social and pragmatic constructs, melody and prosody, conflicts among the drivers of prosody, and the use of prosody in voice therapy. Linguistic, emotional, and pragmatic values are all manifest in prosodic variations in voice and speech. Introducing prosody in voice rehabilitation serves a number of important functions, and clinical applications are presented. Conclusion: Prosody provides layers of meaning beyond the word. It represents linguistic, emotional, and social elements that cannot easily be expressed through semantics. Disturbances in the production or apprehension of prosodic meaning can severely diminish a person’s communicative ability. Voice therapies could take advantage of prosodic variables to better target disabilities in voice production and communication.