Differences in Depression Levels Among Tenors, Baritones, and Basses

Music and speech are closely related to one another. Both have specific elements, such as average fundamental frequency, pitch variation, and speed, to accurately communicate emotion. Some emotions have characteristic speech patterns; in the case of sadness, a low mean fundamental frequency, slow speed of speech, and minimal pitch variation are common. Both music and speech also utilize physical metaphors (up/down, high/low, etc.) to express positivity and negativity. The study was intended to determine whether male vocal register correlated with levels of depressive symptoms. Specifically, tenors were expected to have lower levels of depression than baritones and basses. Participants (16 singers from the UNI Varsity Men\u27s Glee Club and UNI Singers) were given anonymous random email addresses and electronically completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). A one-way ANOVA was run on the depression scores and vocal registers. The results suggest that no significant correlation exists between vocal register and depression