A study on posterior cervical curvature and laryngeal cartilage movement associated with pitch elevation in opera singing

Opera singing is characterized by a rich and full vocal quality, even in high-pitched tones. To achieve this, it is believed that opera singers exert fine temporal and spatial control over the vocal tract configuration. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying such control remain unclear. To investigate this, we studied internal body movements during opera singing using real-time MRI (rtMRI). Through this research, we confirmed that the cervical spine shows a continuous posterior cervical curvature as pitch increases. Previous studies have reported on the mechanism by which cervical lordosis contributes to pitch lowering. Based on this, posterior cervical curvature observed during pitch elevation may be part of a novel mechanism for raising pitch. However, the limited contrast of rtMRI makes it challenging to capture the laryngeal cartilage movement. In this study, we used a static imaging method with higher contrast to record the larynx and surrounding structures, while an opera singer sustained notes at multiple pitches. We traced the outlines of the laryngeal cartilage, hyoid bone, and cervical spine to analyze the pitch-related movements and explore the mechanisms that may cause posterior cervical curvature. This study presents these findings.