Influence of Voice Focus Adjustments on Oral-Nasal Balance in Speech and Song

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> This study investigated the effect of training backward and forward voice focus adjustments on oral-nasal balance in speech and singing in typical speakers. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Twenty participants (10M/10F) aged 24.25 (SD 3.73) years read phonetically balanced, nasal and oral speech stimuli, and sang a song in both forward and backward voice focus conditions. A Nasometer 6450 was used to obtain nasalance scores in the different conditions. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Results indicated that forward voice focus resulted in more nasality (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01) for the oral stimulus and song. Backward voice focus caused a decrease in nasality (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.01) for the nasal stimulus, the phonetically balanced paragraph, and the song. During production of the song, males were more nasal in the forward voice focus condition than females (<i>p</i> = 0.01). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Voice focus can influence oral-nasal balance in normal speakers. More research is needed to investigate whether voice focus adjustments could be helpful to speakers with oral-nasal balance disorders.