Vocology

Vocology is the science and practice of vocal habilitation. Its concerns include the nature of speech and language pathology, the defects of the vocal tract (laryngology), the remediation of speech therapy, and the voice training (voice therapy) and voice pedagogy of song and speech for actors and public speakers.

In its broadest sense, vocology is the study of voice, but as a professional discipline it has a narrower focus: the science and practice of voice habilitation, which includes evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention.

History

Vocology was invented (simultaneously, but independently) by Ingo Titze, and an otolaryngologist at Washington University, Prof. George Gates. Titze defines vocology as "the science and practice of voice habilitation, with a strong emphasis on habilitation". To habilitate means to “enable”, to “equip for”, to “capacitate”; in other words, to assist in performing whatever function that needs to be performed". He goes on that this "is more than repairing a voice or bringing it back to a former state ... rather, it is the process of strengthening and equipping the voice to meet very specific and special demands".

Requirements

It is not yet its own professional degree, thus it only assists the voice medicine team. Usually a person practicing vocology is a voice coach with additional training in the voice medical arts, a prepared voice/singing teacher, or a speech pathologist with additional voice performance training—so they can better treat the professional voice user. The study of vocology is recognized academically by courses and institutes in India, Italy and the United States.

India

• Chetana National Institute of Vocology

Italy

• Milan's Azienda Ospedaliera Fatebenefratelli e Oftalmico

United States

• Grabscheid Voice Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center
• National Center for Voice and Speech at the University of Utah offer an 8 week intensive course (9 graduate level university credits) and a Certificate in Vocology.
• Regional Center for Voice and Swallowing
• Rider University
• Vox Humana Laboratory at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• University of Kansas
• Westminster Choir College

Reflecting the increased recognition of vocology, the Scandinavian Journal of Logopedics & Phoniatrics and Voice merged in 1996 with the new name Logopedics, Phoniatrics, Vocology. Additionally, a new association bearing the name of vocology (Pan-American Vocology Association) has also been started.

See also

• Human Voice
• Speech
• Vocal loading
• Vocal fry
• Vocal rest
• Vocal range
• Vocal warm up
• Voice analysis
• Voice disorders
• Voice frequency
• Voice organ
• Voice pedagogy
• Voice projection
• Voice synthesis

External links

• Pan-American Vocology Association
• Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology (the journal of the Nordic Cooperation Council of Logopedics and Phoniatrics and The British Voice Association)
• National Center for Voice and Speech
• The NCVS's Summer Vocology Institute website-- Certificate in Vocology
• University of Kansas Vocology Lab
• Westminster Choir College
• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

• Titze IR. (1996). What is vocology? Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 21:5-6. doi:10.3109/14015439609099196
• Kjær BE. (1996). Welcome to a New Journal. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 21: 3 doi:10.3109/14015439609099194