How Mental and Emotional Stress Impacts Vocal Phonation in Adolescent Singers

This study examines the relationship between mental/emotional stress and vocal phonation abilities in high school choir students. 17 pairs of General Health Questionnaires and Vocal Screenings were completed by four student participants. These questionnaires and screenings were completed on a weekly basis. Within the General Health Questionnaire, there were several negative correlations with “Concentration” from the General Health Questionnaire results, those being “Loss of Sleep” (r = -0.547, p = 0.023) and “Losing Confidence in Self” (r = 0.575, p = 0.016), as detailed in Table 3. The largest correlations to “Concentration” are “Under Strain” (r = -0.742, p = <.001) and “Feeling Unhappy” (r = -0.746, p = <.001). From the documented screenings, there was very little impact noted on the phonological abilities of the participants. Presence of “Non-Musical Sounds” had a strong correlation with “Tone Quality” (r = 0.683, p = 0.001), showing that there was an increase of non-musical sounds when tone quality had decreased in score.