University of Iowa Foundation Professor Ingo Titze is a founding board member of a newly created organization devoted to the scientific study of voice. The Pan American Vocology Association’s website went live on Oct. 8, and the Inaugural PAVA Symposium will be held Oct. 9-11, 2015 at the University of North Carolina.
Titze, who holds the UI Foundation Distinguished Professorship, has a joint appointment in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders and the School of Music, both part of the UI College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Titze co-invented the term “vocology” in 1990, as the “science and practice of voice habilitation”. His book, Vocology, is now a standard in the field.
According to Titze’s writings, voice habilitation studies can be used to repair a voice as well as build and strengthen the voice for specific needs. The findings of vocologists may be used by otolaryngologists, speech-language pathologists, singers, voice coaches, actors, and others.