Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation

The names of the authors alone is enough to alert every laryngologist, speech pathologist and voice professional to the merits of this superb book. Whether your profession be in music, theater, speech language pathology, otolaryngology, or voice science, this is a practical tool for anyone wishing to change vocal behavior. This collaboration of two of the most renowned voice experts offers an equal amount of theory and application for those looking to embed voice specialty into their program. In its broadest sense, vocology is the study of vocalization. This can include every aspect of human and animal sound-making in airways within the body. As a professional discipline, the authors give vocology a narrower focus in this book: the science and practice of voice habilitation, which includes evaluation, diagnosis, and behavioral intervention. The emphasis in this definition is on habilitation rather than rehabilitation. Restating from Dr Titze's earlier work, Principles of Voice Production: 'Habilitation is the process of enabling, equipping for, or capacitating. Voice habilitation is therefore more than repairing a voice, or bringing it back to a normal state.It includes the process of building and strengthening the voice to meet specific needs.' They have introduced vocology as a discipline that combines expertise from speech pathology, vocal music, theatre arts, and otolaryngology.