Objective: Theater actors are considered as elite vocal performers whom quality of voice is of utmost importance. It was thought that speech breathing characteristics of theater actors were different compared with those of lay talkers. However, findings on this issue were generally based on studies conducted by the respiratory kinematics and muscular activity via using indirect air volume measures. These measures were by no means related with the respiratory– phonatory interaction. One of the objective methods that is used for evaluating voice quality is the phonatory-aerodynamic characteristics. Phonatory-Aerodynamic System (PAS) primarily examines the respiratory–phonatory interaction. The aim of the present study was to search the phonatory-aerodynamic characteristics of drama students.
Materials and Methods: A total of 37 vocally healthy participants aged between 21 and 30 years were separated into two groups; the first group included drama students (n=19), and the second group comprised lay talkers (n=18). Phonatory-aerodynamic evaluations were done via PENTAX Medical PAS Model6600.
Results: During the phonation of vowel [a], female and male drama students used greater percentage of vital capacity (VC) than public speaker couples. Similarly, findings indicated that female drama students used greater percentage of VC while producing syllables [papapapapa]. As for connected speech, female participants of both groups completed reading in similar durations, but they inspirated faster and they needed lesser number of inspirations.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the phonatory-aerodynamic characteristics of theater students are different compared with those of lay talkers predominantly for female participants. The present study’s results may serve clinicians’ basic objective data regarding the speech breathing characteristics of theater actors.