Voice Disorders
Dr. Chris Gaskill
Dr. Gaskill has backgrounds in both physics and singing, so his research is primarily focused on issues with the singing voice and professional voice issues. One area of study involves understanding the acoustic and physiologic changes brought about through the use of semi-occluded vocal tract exercises. Exercises in this category include things such as using lip trills and phonating into straws or resonance tubes. These are popular vocal training and rehabilitation techniques used by both speech therapists and singning teachers, but the mechanism of their proposed benefits is not well understood. Dr. Gaskill has examined changes in vocal fold closure patterns, or glottal contact quotient, both during and immediately after performing various tasks involving a semi-occulded vocal tract. He also conducts research in the area of vocal dosimetry, or actually measuring how much someone uses their voice in real time using a portable vocal dosimeter. This device calculates average pitch and loudness, as well as total number of vibrations (cycle dose) and an estimate of the distance traveled by vocal fold tissues over a certain time period (distance dose). While occupational health standards exist in the U.S. for safe levels of exposure to noise, none currently exist to protect the thousands of individuals who rely on voice as their primary tool of trade (singers, teachers, salespersons, etc.). Dr. Gaskill is currently collecting data from both singers in training and school teachers, to help voice scientists and health professionals understand the risks involved with heavy voice use and develop standards for preventing occupational vocal injuries.