Language and Music, Speech and the Human Beatbox: Theoretical Issues for Research in General and Applied Linguistics (HBB)

Language and Music, Speech and the Human Beatbox: Theoretical Issues for Research in General and Applied Linguistics; Monocentric Exploratory Study

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines, using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve vocal imitation of turntablism, and other musical instruments. To produces the different sounds, the Beatboxers use their vocal apparatus in a much wider and more complex way than its use in speech. This allows them to acquire a panel of rich and varied sounds. The Human Beatbox (HBB) is a very recent subject of study in phonetics. This study offers an exploratory study of pharyngolaryngeal articulatory behaviors using nasofibroscopy and electroglottography and an aerodynamic study in order to better understand the articulatory capacities and limits of the vocal tract.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Language
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Nasofibroscopy; Other: Electroglottography; Other: Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording; Other: Questionnaire

Detailed Description

HBB is characterized by two very interesting aspects (1) the complexity of the oro-pharyngo-laryngeal joints and the articulatory precision of the beatboxers and (2) the respiratory management which allows the artists to beatbox continuously without interrupting their performance. These two points, very characteristic of this technique, allow them to best imitate diverse and varied musical tones.

The Human Beatbox is still little studied and the literature on this subject is quite limited. Percussive sounds (for example imitations of bass drums, hi-hat or snare) seem to be characterized by articulatory strategies, melodic sounds (for example wind instruments, strings) seem to be based on both articulatory and phonatory strategies, and finally, electronic sounds seem to mainly use complex phonatory strategies.

Our objectives are to better understand the articulatory capacities and limits of the vocal tract at different levels (articulation capacities, sound production mechanisms, muscular and acoustic temporal relationships, strategies of efficiency...).

It is possible to find clinical applications of the Human Beatbox in the context of congenital speech disorders (for example dyspraxia) or acquired (for example oro-pharyngo-laryngeal surgery of the partial glossectomy type).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 5
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Ile-de-France
    • Suresnes, Ile-de-France, France, 92150
      • Hopital Foch

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subject aged 18 or over
• Beatboxer subject (singer specializing in Beatboxing)
• Absence of language impairment
• Absence of vocal pathology
• Have signed a consent form
• Be affiliated with a Health Insurance plan.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Pregnant, parturient or lactating women
• Persons deprived of their liberty: minors or adults subject to legal protection measures or out of state to express their consent
• Subjects under guardianship or under curators

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Professional beatboxer singer; 1 professional beatboxer singer will be asked to produced different sounds while undergoing the different procedures. Researchers wil then select the most interesting sounds to be studied.	Other: Nasofibroscopy; Laryngeal exploration performed using a flexible fibrescope while singing.; Other: Electroglottography; Electrography of glottal movement using the EG2-PCX2 system (Glottal enterprises) while singing.; Other: Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording; Air flow measurement and acoustic signal recording while singing using the EVA2 system (SQLab-LPL, Aix en Provence, France)
Other: Experimented beatboxer singer; 10 experimented beatboxer singer will be asked to reproduced the sounds record by the first subject (professional singer) while undergoing the different procedures.	Other: Nasofibroscopy; Laryngeal exploration performed using a flexible fibrescope while singing.; Other: Electroglottography; Electrography of glottal movement using the EG2-PCX2 system (Glottal enterprises) while singing.; Other: Air flow measurement + acoustic signal recording; Air flow measurement and acoustic signal recording while singing using the EVA2 system (SQLab-LPL, Aix en Provence, France); Other: Questionnaire; Questionnaire on subject singing habits, the way it use and perceive the use of his body when singing.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Measurement of the values of air pressure (Pa) during sound productions	1 day
Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Electroglottography iii) electroglottographic and acoustic with measurements of frequency and time acoustic parameters on acoustic analysis software.	1 day
Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB	Visualisation of larynx images	1 day

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Nasofibroscopy	1 day
Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Oral and nasal aeromynamics measurement.	1 day
Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers	Analysis of acoustic signal collected during laryngeal exploration	1 day
Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and "economy" of the structures of the vocal tract	Fibroscopy images compared to accoustic signal.	1 day
Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and "economy" of the structures of the vocal tract	Aerodynamic events compared to accoustic signal.	1 day
Relate the profile of the beatboxers collected by a survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities evaluated during the examinations	Qualitative comparison between an open survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities (fibroscopy and accoustic signal)	1 day
Evaluate the potential contributions of the study to the fields of research in linguistics of world languages, research on acquisition and / or clinical phonetics		1 day

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hopital Foch

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 16, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 27, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): July 27, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 16, 2020
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 21, 2020
• First Posted (Actual): August 25, 2020

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): February 28, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 27, 2023
• Last Verified: February 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Language; Beatbox; Human beat box
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2020_0017

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No