ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Performance Science
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1568982
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Performance ScienceView all 9 articles
Perceived Vibrato and the Singing Power Ratio Explain Overall Evaluations in Opera Singing
Provisionally accepted
- 1Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
- 2Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
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In opera singing competitions, judges use an overall score to evaluate the singers’ voices and determine their rankings. This score not only guides the singers’ technique and expressiveness but also serves as a crucial indicator that can significantly influence their careers. However, the specific elements captured by this overall score remain unclear. To address this gap, the present study analyzed opera singing recordings to identify the factors that explain the overall score. Ten trained female Japanese singers performed “Caro mio ben” under standardized recording conditions. Four experts evaluated the recorded performances by assigning an overall score of 100 points and rating six vocal attributes: vibrato, resonance, timbre, diction, intonation, and expressiveness. The recordings were then analyzed to calculate specific acoustic and audio features, including the singing power ratio (SPR), harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), and loudness units full scale (LUFS). We developed two linear mixed models: the first regressed the overall score on the subjective vocal attributes, whereas the second predicted the overall score from the acoustic features. Evaluator identity was included as a random effect in both models. The results showed that vibrato was a significant predictor of the overall score in the first model. In the second model, only SPR emerged as a significant predictor. These findings suggest that vibrato, which reflects emotional expressiveness and vocal control, and SPR, which indicates the relative power in the high-frequency band (2–4 kHz) and assists a voice clearer than the accompaniment, are key factors in explaining the overall score in opera singing.
Keywords: Voice, Opera singing, Overall score, Vibrato, Singing power ratio
Received: 31 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kondo, Kondoh and Fujii. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shinya Fujii, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Fujisawa, 252-0882, Kanagawa, Japan
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