An Investigation of Extrinsic Laryngeal Muscle Responses to Auditory Stimulation Page: 3

                                
Wallace Jerry D., An Investigation of Extrinsic Laryn-
geal Muscle Responses to Auditory Stimulation. Doctor of
Philosophy (Music Education), August, 1985, 206 pp., 17
tables, bibliography, 72 titles.
The purpose of this study was to provide, through sys-
tematic investigation, empirical data to support or reject
the assumption that auditory stimulation by discrete pitches
evokes consistent muscle responses in the extrinsic laryn-
geal muscles. The study was an electromyographic inves-
tigation of specific upper and lower extrinsic laryngeal
muscles as stimulated by two specific pitch stimuli. The
responses were evoked by auditory stimulation, without
vocalization.
Twenty-one volunteer subjects were selected from classes
at Richland College, Dallas, Texas. The subjects varied
from those who had no musical training to others with
several years of training. The subjects ranged, in age,
from nineteen to thirty-four years.
It was hypothesized that the responses from the low-
pitch stimulus would produce more definitive wave forms and
greater amplitudes in the lower (depressor) muscles than in
the upper (elevator) muscles. Likewise, it was hypothesized
that the responses from the high-pitch stimulus would pro-
duce more definitive wave forms and greater amplitudes in