Spectral and cepstral measures of vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists

Abstract

Introduction: Heavy metal vocalists tend to overuse or differently use their vocal systems for singing, and this could have a negative impact on their voice quality. However, there is limited research concerning the objective measures of vocal changes caused due to vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists. Thus, the objectives of the study were to document the differences in the cepstral and spectral parameters of voice before and after vocal fatigue in Indian heavy metal vocalists and to investigate the correlation between the phonatory habits and the cepstral and spectral parameters in postfatigue voice of Indian heavy metal vocalists. Methods: Phonation samples were collected before the vocal performance (pretest) and after the vocal performance (posttest) from 16 vocalists belonging to Indian heavy metal genre. The phonation samples were analyzed, and the spectral and cepstral parameters were extracted in both the conditions. Results: Out of spectral parameters, only H1-H2 was significantly different between the pre- and postfatigue voices. Both the cepstral parameters were noted to be significantly lower after vocal fatigue. Moderate and strong correlations were observed between the phonatory habits and the objective parameters of postfatigue voice in heavy metal vocalists. Conclusion: The cepstral measures of voice were more effective in identifying the vocal fatigue-related voice changes in heavy metal vocalists.