Electromyographic Assessment of the External Laryngeal Muscles of Opera Singers During Phonation and Non-Phonation Tasks

Introduction. The surface EMG technique (sEMG) gives valuable assessment of vocal tract as well as diagnosis or outcome assessment in dysphonia. There are very few papers on the use of sEMG in vocal professionalists. Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate the electromyographic characteristics of selected external laryngeal and neck muscles in professional opera singers. Material. The study material consisted of 50 subjects. Twenty-six opera professional singers and 24 healthy non-singers. Method. Each person underwent otolaryngologic and phoniatric examination, laryngeal videostroboscopy, hearing testing, multiparametric acoustic voice analysis (multidimensional voice program) and sEMG of submentalis, cricothyroid and sternocleidomastoid muscles. Results. Statistical analysis of the values of the amplitudes of the submentalis and the cricothyroid muscles showed significant differences between the vocalists and the control group. Moreover, during vowel phonation and glissando, significantly greater differences in the asymmetry of sternocleidomastoid muscles amplitudes were observed in singers compared to the control group. In most subjects, the studied muscles did not show asymmetry during saliva swallowing. Conclusions. Laryngeal muscle function should be assessed during different phonation and non-phonation tasks. Singers have different SEMG characteristics than non-singers. Knowledge of the patient 's history and endoscopic studies is needed to interpret EMG recordings.