Here, my voice 2: personalized voice lessons improve vocal confidence in hard of hearing persons

Voice is considered a core expression of individuality, constituting a fundamental human experience. Yet, many people in the hard-of-hearing community have reported little relation to the creative power of their voice. Hearing loss can negatively affect vocal use due to reduced auditory perception and increased insecurity from low vocal confidence. Our previous pilot program “Here, My Voice” provided 8-weeks of singing lessons to 6 hard-of-hearing individuals and demonstrated improved vocal confidence.

We designed a follow-up program “Here, My Voice 2” to the pilot program at University of Southern California (USC) extending the original program to 12-week lessons with 8 hard-of-hearing participants with further modifications. We hypothesized that personalized voice lessons emphasizing joyful expression would improve vocal confidence and enhance music appreciation. We administered pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up surveys including the Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI), Voice Handicap Index (VHI), Rosenberg Self Esteem survey, Goldsmith Musical Sophistication Index (MSI), and a customized questionnaire on Emotions While Singing created in USC’s Bionic Ear lab (EWS). Two-tailed paired sample T-tests s and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted at ⍺ level = .05.

Participants self-reported increased voice confidence with significantly lower SVHI (p = 0.029) and VHI (p= 0.027) scores. Participants also reported significantly more positive emotions while singing (EWS) (p= 0.014) and increased Rosenberg self-esteem scores (p= 0.654). Average Goldsmith MSI scores demonstrated significantly improved active engagement (p = 0.033), perceptual abilities (p < 0.001), and general music sophistication (p = 0.011). Increased vocal confidence and positive emotions while singing persisted to the 3-month follow-up (p = .006 and p = .048, respectively).

The results suggest the intervention of singing lessons focusing on joy improved vocal confidence and music enjoyment. Further study is required to understand the effectiveness of singing lessons as a support method for hard-of-hearing people.