{"id":35122,"date":"2026-11-05T10:29:50","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T15:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=35122"},"modified":"2026-11-05T09:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T14:40:18","slug":"unveiling-the-science-behind-a-beautiful-singing-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2026\/11\/unveiling-the-science-behind-a-beautiful-singing-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Unveiling the science behind a beautiful singing voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expert listeners can often form an immediate impression of a singer<\/strong>\u2019s performance. But what\u00a0\u00a0exactly in the voice drives that judgment? In classical vocal competitions, performers are rated on an overall score. However, the criteria behind that score are rarely made explicit. Moreover, voice quality is often described in vague, metaphorical terms, such as \u201cringing,\u201d \u201cwarm,\u201d or \u201cfocused,\u201d which can mean different things to different listeners.<\/p>\n

To better understand what lies behind these judgments, a team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Haruka Kondo from Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan, along with Dr. Sotaro Kondoh from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan,\u00a0 and Associate Professor Shinya Fujii from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Japan, simulated a vocal competition in a concert hall, asking expert judges to evaluate the singers and investigating which vocal attributes and acoustic features were associated with higher overall scores. The study, to be published online in the Journal of Voice<\/a><\/em>on October 27, 2026, provides measurable ways to understand how experts evaluate classical singers.<\/p>\n

Assistant Professor Haruka Kondo is a Ph.D. student in vocal science at Keio University and an operatic soprano who has competed in various vocal competitions. She conducted the study with Dr. Sotaro Kondoh, Ph.D., a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Research Fellow and Visiting Research Fellow in musical meter, beat, and rhythm perception, and Associate Professor Shinya Fujii, Ph.D., who specializes in the neuroscience of music and directs Keio University\u2019s Neurosciences and Music Laboratory. The researchers are affiliated with Keio University\u2019s Research Center for Music Science, which uses scientific approaches to study how music is perceived, understood, created, and experienced, as well as its effects on the brain, mind, and body.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study bridges the gap between artistic intuition and science and does not aim to replace the expert ear. It helps translate what experienced listeners hear into a shared, measurable language,\u201d says Ms. Kondo.<\/p>\n

The researchers recruited 22 classical singers, including 10 men and 12 women. Each singer performed the same song, \u201cCaro mio ben<\/strong>,\u201d a cappella, without instrumental accompaniment, in a concert hall to recreate the conditions of a live performance. Five expert judges gave each performance an overall score on a 100-point scale and rated six vocal attributes on a 7-point scale, covering aspects such as pitch variation (vibrato), voice quality (resonance and timbre), clarity of words (diction), pitch accuracy (intonation), and expressiveness.<\/p>\n

The participants\u2019 voices were also analyzed for four acoustic features<\/strong>: singing power ratio, which reflects the prominence of certain frequencies in the voice; loudness units relative to full scale, a standardized measure related to perceived loudness; vibrato rate, which describes how quickly the pitch changes during vibrato; and vibrato extent, which describes the amount of pitch change during vibrato. The researchers then examined which vocal attributes and acoustic features were associated with higher overall scores and whether these relationships differed between male and female singers.<\/p>\n

Notably, judges gave higher overall scores to singers rated as having better vibrato, resonance, and expressiveness, while timbre, diction, and intonation showed no clear link to scores. Voices with greater spectral prominence in the 2\u20134 kHz range also tended to receive higher scores in both men and women. This range is linked to the \u201csinger\u2019s formant,\u201d which is thought to give trained voices a clear, ringing quality that helps them carry without a microphone. Higher vocal loudness, however, was not associated with higher scores.<\/p>\n

It was observed that judges evaluated male and female singers differently based on their vibrato. Among male singers, a faster vibrato was linked to lower scores, while among female singers, a wider vibrato was linked to higher scores.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results show that something as personal and artistic as \u2018a beautiful voice\u2019 can be partly understood through science. This could help students understand what their instructors mean when they say, \u2018let it ring more\u2019 or \u2018your vibrato is too shallow.\u2019 Students could then use these measurements to see how their voices change as they practice between lessons, which could help organizers design clearer scoring sheets and help singers understand their results,\u201d says Ms. Kondo.<\/p>\n

The researchers also see potential for these measures to improve singing-training apps and artificial intelligence voice-evaluation tools that give users feedback that reflects expert judgement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn summary, our study paves the way for more efficient and concrete teaching in music education, greater transparency and fairness in competitions and auditions, and designing singing evaluation tools that better reflect how experts listen,\u201d concludes Ms. Kondo.<\/p>\n

Reference\u00a0<\/strong>
\nTitle of original paper: Vocal Evaluation of Classical Singing in a Concert Hall: Perceptual and Acoustic Associations with Overall Scores in Male and Female Singers
\nJournal: Journal of Voice<\/p>\n

About NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC<\/strong>
\nNeurosciences and Music Laboratory at Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus . The NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC is dedicated to research in Neurosciences and Music (NeuroMusic), seeking to understand the fundamental role of music in human life. The research is founded on the premise that music provides a unique probe for identifying higher-order brain functions, including skilled motor control, learning, perception, cognition, memory, emotion, and creativity. The laboratory aims to elucidate the neural origins of human musicality, thereby enhancing the potential of music to contribute to a harmonious future.
\nWhile interest in the Neurosciences of Music has surged globally in recent decades, Japan had a notable lack of laboratories in this field. Recognizing the growing need to explore the neural basis of human musicality, Dr. Shinya Fujii founded the NeuroMusicLab at Keio SFC to fill this gap.<\/p>\n

About Research Center for Music Science<\/strong>
\nThe Research Center for Music Science (RCMuS) is a research center dedicated to the scientific study of music. Guided by the principle “For the Future of Music, For the Music of the Future, “the RCMuS aims to scientifically elucidate the origins and evolution of music, its universality and diversity, the principles underlying the perception, cognition, generation, and creation of music, the effects of music on the brain, mind, and body of living organisms, and the impact of music on individuals, groups, and society. The center seeks to advance research and education in music science and to disseminate the knowledge gained to the broader public.<\/p>\n

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JOURNAL<\/h4>\n

Journal of Voice<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expert listeners can often form an immediate impression of a singer\u2019s performance. But what\u00a0\u00a0exactly in the voice drives that judgment? In classical vocal competitions, performers are rated on an overall score. However, the criteria behind that score are rarely made explicit. Moreover, voice quality is often described in vague, metaphorical terms, such as \u201cringing,\u201d \u201cwarm,\u201d… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[955,324,1442,1441],"tags":[1444,1445,1443,1446,600,147,1447],"class_list":["post-35122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-senses","category-sound","category-voice","tag-acoustic","tag-opera","tag-qualities","tag-ringing","tag-singing","tag-sound","tag-voice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35124,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35122\/revisions\/35124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}