Lung volume levels in professional classical singing

Using respiratory inductive plethysmography lung volumes were measured at initiation and termination of phrases (ILV and TLV, respectively) during singing as performed by seven professional female and male classical singers. As compared with previously published data for untrained speakers, the overall mean TLV was similar, while the overall mean ILV was clearly higher. The overall modes of ILV and TLV fell in the 70% VC and 30% VC decades and that for breath group volume (BGV) in the 20% VC decade. Gender differences were observed in BGV and mean flow rate, indicating that female singers consume relatively more air. The results show that singers have to take into consideration greater elastic recoil forces than speakers when producing target subglottal pressures.