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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Language
• Interventions: Other: Nasofibroscopy; Other: Electroglottography; Other: Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording; Other: Questionnaire

• Registration Number: NCT04526041
• Lead Sponsor: Hopital Foch

Brief 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.

Detailed 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).

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-04-16
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-08-21
• Study First Posted: 2020-08-25
• Study Start: 2020-10-16
• Primary Completion: 2021-07-27
• Study Completion: 2021-07-27
• Status Verified: 2023-02
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-02-27
• Last Update Posted: 2023-02-28

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 5

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.

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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

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Experimented beatboxer singer	Questionnaire	10 experimented beatboxer singer will be asked to reproduced the sounds record by the first subject (professional singer) while undergoing the different procedures.
Professional beatboxer singer	Nasofibroscopy	1 professional beatboxer singer will be asked to produced different sounds while undergoing the different procedures. Researchers wil then select the most interesting sounds to be studied.
Experimented beatboxer singer	Nasofibroscopy	10 experimented beatboxer singer will be asked to reproduced the sounds record by the first subject (professional singer) while undergoing the different procedures.
Professional beatboxer singer	Electroglottography	1 professional beatboxer singer will be asked to produced different sounds while undergoing the different procedures. Researchers wil then select the most interesting sounds to be studied.
Professional beatboxer singer	Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording	1 professional beatboxer singer will be asked to produced different sounds while undergoing the different procedures. Researchers wil then select the most interesting sounds to be studied.
Experimented beatboxer singer	Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording	10 experimented beatboxer singer will be asked to reproduced the sounds record by the first subject (professional singer) while undergoing the different procedures.
Experimented beatboxer singer	Electroglottography	10 experimented beatboxer singer will be asked to reproduced the sounds record by the first subject (professional singer) while undergoing the different procedures.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	1 day	Visualisation of larynx images

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and "economy" of the structures of the vocal tract	1 day	Aerodynamic events compared to accoustic signal.
Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	1 day	Analysis of acoustic signal collected during laryngeal exploration
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
Relate the profile of the beatboxers collected by a survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities evaluated during the examinations	1 day	Qualitative comparison between an open survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities (fibroscopy and accoustic signal)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Hopital Foch; 🇫🇷 Suresnes, Ile-de-France, France