High School Group Observation

Sapienza and colleagues (2002) sought to explore the effects of a high-intensity, low-repetition expiratory muscle strength training method in 40 healthy high school band players. The participants included 18 males and 22 females who were non-smokers and uneducated in expiratory strength training. The authors indicated the average age of participants was 21 years old, which is inconsistent with the age of high school students. The participants were assigned to a control or treatment group with 7 males and 7 females in each control group. There was no description regarding participant assignment procedures, therefore it is unknown if randomization occurred. The treatment group trained 5 days per week for 2 weeks under supervision. The findings
from this study included a 47% increase in MEP for females and a 48% increase in MEP for males, with a statistically significant difference between the treatment and control groups. According to the authors, this study is the first to show a significant increase in expiratory pressure support in adolescents. These results do not indicate the specific effects on voice production and the performance of healthy adolescents may not generalize to the individuals with voice disorders or the aging population.