Background, Research, and Resources

The literature on voice and trauma is scarce. For the most part there are case studies in voice medicine and music therapy indicating that the voice seems to respond to one’s trauma history.

Experimentally, the trauma-voice relationship needs to be further researched. This is why we need to take into account what we know from:

Voice and stress literature
Voice and emotion
Trauma and psychophysiology
Functional Voice Disorders
PTSD and computational models

voice and trauma in context:

1. We know that the vocal apparatus reacts under stress (manifesting both acoustically and physiologically) but limited research truly addresses how it reacts as a result of trauma (e.g. interpersonal violence).

2. We know from the literature on trauma and psychophysiology that traumatized individuals have strong physiological reactions to reminders of their experiences, but can also present baseline physiological and structural differences (e.g. brain structure).

3. We know that some patients have lost their voices as a result of a traumatic experience with no biological factor that could justify their vocal impairment.

4. Evidence in regards to voice and PTSD in Veterans (Marmar et al, 2019) and childhood trauma and voice perturbation measures (Monti et al., 2021). Also, exploratory evidence links vocal intensity in singers with childhood neglect and insecure attachment (Monti et al., 2017)

These elements suggest that trauma can indeed relate to and have an effect on voice. This is why collecting evidence on the trauma-voice relationship can have important implications.

If one’s trauma history can have an impact on voice, this can affect not only voice function and health, but also elements in communication that relate to social dynamics and one’s quality of life.

Contributing Fields

Some resources:

Trauma and the Voice

Emily Jawoski Koriath

Social Determinants of Health: Implications for Voice Disorders and Their Treatment

Geneva V. Mayne and Mahchid Namazi

Self-Reported Stress, Trauma, and Prevalence of Laryngoresponders in the General Population

Leah B. Helou, Brett Welch, Sarah Hoch and Jackie Gartner-Schmidt

Singing in Co-Harmony: An Introduction to Trauma Informed Voice Care

Megan Durham

The Effects Of Childhood Sexual Abuse On Singers

Lauren McQuistin

Investigating Past Trauma in Laryngoresponders Versus Non-Laryngoresponders: Piloting New Methods in an Exploratory Study

Diana Rose Becker, Brett Welch, Elisa Monti, Harmony Sullivan, Leah B. Helou

Does Self-Reported Childhood Trauma Relate to Vocal Acoustic Measures? Preliminary Findings at Trauma Recall

Elisa Monti, Wendy D’Andrea, Steven Freed, David C. Kidd, Shelley Feuer, Linda M. Carroll & Emanuele Castano

The Childhood Trauma and Attachment Gap in Speech-Language Pathology: Practitioner's Knowledge, Practice, and Needs

Anna C. Rupert and Diane E. Bartlett

Speech-based Markers for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in US Veterans

Charles R. Marmar Adam D. Brown Meng Qian Eugene Laska Carole Siegel Meng Li Duna Abu‐Amara Andreas Tsiartas Colleen Richey Jennifer Smith Bruce Knoth Dimitra Vergyri

Psychology of Voice Disorders, 2nd Edition

Deborah Caputo Rosen, Johnathan Brandon Sataloff, Robert T. Sataloff

(“Trauma in Voice” chapter by Elisa Monti in above edition)

What’s in a Singer’s Voice: The Effect of Attachment, Emotions and Trauma

Elisa Monti, David C. Kidd, Linda M. Carroll &Emanuele Castano

The Childhood Trauma and Attachment Gap in Speech-Language Pathology: Practitioner's Knowledge, Practice, and Needs

Anna C. Rupert and Diane E. Bartlett

Management of functional communication, swallowing, cough and related disorders: consensus recommendations for speech and language therapy

Janet Baker, Caroline Barnett, Lesley Cavalli, Maria Dietrich, Lorna Dixon, Joseph R Duffy, Annie Elias, Diane E Fraser, Jennifer L Freeburn, Catherine Gregory, Kirsty McKenzie, Nick Miller, Jo Patterson, Carole Roth, Nelson Roy, Jennifer Short, Rene Utianski, Miriam van Mersbergen, Anne Vertigan, Alan Carson,Jon Stone, Laura McWhirter

The Language of Dissociation

Na’ama Yehuda

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the Nature of Trauma

Bessel van der Kolk

Investigating Voice Quality as a Speaker-Independent Indicator of Depression and PTSD

Stefan Scherer, Giota Stratou, Jonathan Gratch, Louis-Philippe Morency

Psychosocial Perspectives on the Management of Voice Disorders

Janet Baker

Can Childhood Trauma Impact the Adult Voice Through the Brain?

Elisa Monti, Diana Van Lancker Sidtis

The Theory and Practice of Vocal Psychotherapy: Songs of the Self

Diane Austin