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

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

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04526041
Acronym
HBB
Enrollment
5
Registered
2020-08-25
Start date
2020-10-16
Completion date
2021-07-27
Last updated
2023-02-28

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Language

Keywords

Beatbox, Human beat box, Language

Brief summary

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.

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).

Interventions

Laryngeal exploration performed using a flexible fibrescope while singing.

OTHERElectroglottography

Electrography of glottal movement using the EG2-PCX2 system (Glottal enterprises) while singing.

OTHERAir flow measurement + acoustic signal recording

Air flow measurement and acoustic signal recording while singing using the EVA2 system (SQLab-LPL, Aix en Provence, France)

OTHERQuestionnaire

Questionnaire on subject singing habits, the way it use and perceive the use of his body when singing.

Sponsors

Hopital Foch
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes

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

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Describe and understand the production mechanisms in HBB1 dayMeasurement of the values of air pressure (Pa) during sound productions

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Study the articulation capacities of the human vocal tract and its biomechanical limits in BeatBox singers1 dayNasofibroscopy
Measure aerodynamic and muscular temporal relationships to evaluate the strategies of efficiency, performance and economy of the structures of the vocal tract1 dayFibroscopy images compared to accoustic signal.
Relate the profile of the beatboxers collected by a survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities evaluated during the examinations1 dayQualitative comparison between an open survey and their articulation and aerodynamic capacities (fibroscopy and accoustic signal)
Evaluate the potential contributions of the study to the fields of research in linguistics of world languages, research on acquisition and / or clinical phonetics1 day

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026