Language and Music, Speech and the Human Beatbox: Theoretical Issues for Research in General and Applied Linguistics

Language Clinical Trial

— HBB  

Official title:

Language and Music, Speech and the Human Beatbox: Theoretical Issues for Research in General and Applied Linguistics; Monocentric Exploratory Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04526041
• Other study ID #: 2020_0017
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 16, 2020
• Est. completion date: July 27, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: February 2023
• Source: Hopital Foch
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines, using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve vocal imitation of turntablism, and other musical instruments. To produces the different sounds, the Beatboxers use their vocal apparatus in a much wider and more complex way than its use in speech. This allows them to acquire a panel of rich and varied sounds. The Human Beatbox (HBB) is a very recent subject of study in phonetics. This study offers an exploratory study of pharyngolaryngeal articulatory behaviors using nasofibroscopy and electroglottography and an aerodynamic study in order to better understand the articulatory capacities and limits of the vocal tract.

Description:

HBB is characterized by two very interesting aspects (1) the complexity of the oro-pharyngo-laryngeal joints and the articulatory precision of the beatboxers and (2) the respiratory management which allows the artists to beatbox continuously without interrupting their performance. These two points, very characteristic of this technique, allow them to best imitate diverse and varied musical tones.

The Human Beatbox is still little studied and the literature on this subject is quite limited. Percussive sounds (for example imitations of bass drums, hi-hat or snare) seem to be characterized by articulatory strategies, melodic sounds (for example wind instruments, strings) seem to be based on both articulatory and phonatory strategies, and finally, electronic sounds seem to mainly use complex phonatory strategies.

Our objectives are to better understand the articulatory capacities and limits of the vocal tract at different levels (articulation capacities, sound production mechanisms, muscular and acoustic temporal relationships, strategies of efficiency...).

It is possible to find clinical applications of the Human Beatbox in the context of congenital speech disorders (for example dyspraxia) or acquired (for example oro-pharyngo-laryngeal surgery of the partial glossectomy type).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 5
• Est. completion date: July 27, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: July 27, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subject aged 18 or over

• Beatboxer subject (singer specializing in Beatboxing)

• Absence of language impairment

• Absence of vocal pathology

• Have signed a consent form

• Be affiliated with a Health Insurance plan.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant, parturient or lactating women

• Persons deprived of their liberty: minors or adults subject to legal protection measures or out of state to express their consent

• Subjects under guardianship or under curators

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Language

Intervention

Other:
• Nasofibroscopy
Laryngeal exploration performed using a flexible fibrescope while singing.
• Electroglottography
Electrography of glottal movement using the EG2-PCX2 system (Glottal enterprises) while singing.
• Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording
Air flow measurement and acoustic signal recording while singing using the EVA2 system (SQLab-LPL, Aix en Provence, France)
• Questionnaire
Questionnaire on subject singing habits, the way it use and perceive the use of his body when singing.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
France	Hopital Foch	Suresnes	Ile-de-France

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Hopital Foch

Country where clinical trial is conducted

France, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Measurement of the values of air pressure (Pa) during sound productions	1 day
Primary	Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Electroglottography; iii) electroglottographic and acoustic with measurements of frequency and time acoustic parameters on acoustic analysis software.	1 day
Primary	Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Visualisation of larynx images	1 day
Secondary	Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Nasofibroscopy	1 day
Secondary	Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Oral and nasal aeromynamics measurement.	1 day
Secondary	Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Analysis of acoustic signal collected during laryngeal exploration	1 day
Secondary	Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and "economy" of the structures of the vocal tract	Fibroscopy images compared to accoustic signal.	1 day
Secondary	Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and "economy" of the structures of the vocal tract	Aerodynamic events compared to accoustic signal.	1 day
Secondary	Relate the profile of the beatboxers collected by a survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities evaluated during the examinations	Qualitative comparison between an open survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities (fibroscopy and accoustic signal)	1 day
Secondary	Evaluate the potential contributions of the study to the fields of research in linguistics of world languages, research on acquisition and / or clinical phonetics		1 day