High Definition Real-Time MRI of Opera Singing

MRI technology has advanced tremendously over the years resulting in significantly higher definition of anatomy as well as real-time portrayal of movement. Such MRI technological progression is particularly noticeable in the depiction of singing anatomy. Check out the following videos over the years: 2016 2015 2011

5/14/2016 0

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New Ultrafast MRI Scan Shows Anatomy During Singing [video]

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign use a new technique that is 10-times faster than standard MRI scanners (100 fps) to illustrate how the hundreds of muscles in our neck, jaw, tongue, and lips work together to produce sound.

5/01/2015 0

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Lisa Marie Presley Throat Cancer Scare

Image from Wikipedia The National Enquirer reported 1/20/14 that Lisa Marie Presley suffered a throat cancer scare when she was told by a medical expert that "the 45-year-old singer’s throat is so severely ravaged that ... the damage could lead to deadly esophageal cancer!" [ link ] The National Enquirer, which is not know for stellar journalism, goes on to report that she has been pushing her voice hard in order to succeed as a singer like her more famous father Elvis. In spi…

1/22/2014 0

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Dr. Chang Contributor to New Textbook on Singing

Released on January 6, 2014, a new textbook on singing "The Ultimate Guide to Singing," was published with numerous contributors ranging from singing stars, engineers, and even Dr. Christopher Chang . Most of Dr. Chang's contributions to the textbook are in Chapter 11: Staying Healthy. You can buy the textbook on Amazon.com !

1/16/2014 0

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How to Describe Hoarseness?

At heart, physicians are science geeks. And when it comes to a raspy voice , one can go truly bananas in how exactly to describe how a raspy voice sounds. For the layperson, when asked to describe a hoarse voice, one often gets imprecise answers to a question most feel ridiculous... I often get a blank look with an answer that goes something like "You know... raspy... it's not clear." Unfortunately, such a description is inadequate. Even when using more descriptors like deeper…

11/16/2013 0

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Opera Music Improves Heart Transplant Survival

Sara Maines of The MaineStudio Not kidding... This research  was actually published in the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery in 2012. I should add that the research was done in mice rather than humans and won the 2013 Ig Prize in Medicine. To quote from the abstract : "recipients of a B6 cardiac graft that were exposed to opera music and Mozart had significantly prolonged allograft [transplant] survival... whereas those exposed to a single sound frequency (100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,…

9/14/2013 0

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