Some Vocal Consequences of Sleep Deprivation and the Possibility of “Fatigue Proofing” the Voice With Voicecraft® Voice Training

SummaryWhen a person is sleep deprived, someone who knows them and their usual voice may comment that they sound tired, often supporting their observation with comments, which may include, “you sound croaky” or “rough,” or “you don’t sound too bright,” (meaning the voice and not intellectual capacity) or “you sound down” or “flat.” To explore the concept that fatigue may produce such recognizable, consistent, and measurable voice changes, a study was designed in which 15 participants underwent 24 hours of sleep deprivation. They were recorded at specific intervals reading a standard passage and the results indicated that the voices deteriorated. The team of trained listener judges perceived the voices as sounding more tired, specifically rougher and less brilliant and the acoustic analysis revealed that the mean fundamental frequency fell, providing some validation for the comments “croaky,” “not so bright,” and “down,” respectively. To explore the possibility of prevention of such deterioration, the participants subsequently received a specific voice training, followed by a second, identical sleep deprivation study. The results of the second, posttraining sleep deprivation study indicated that the voices had become more resilient to the effects of sleep deprivation. The results are discussed in light of the fact that such deterioration as a consequence of sleep deprivation may compromise the quality of vocal performance, contributing to vocal disorder, proving costly should it result in absence from work. Furthermore, for those fatigued individuals for whom a robust voice is essential, there may be a way to “fatigue proof” the voice.