Advisor(s)
Dr. Rema Suniga
Confirmation
1
Document Type
Poster
Location
ONU McIntosh Center; Activities Room
Start Date
11-4-2025 10:00 AM
End Date
11-4-2025 10:50 AM
Abstract
Araújo and his colleagues (2020) demonstrated that wind instrument players have higher vital capacities than non-players; however, Studer and colleagues (2019) found otherwise. In addition, a combination of wind instrument playing and singing has been found to lessen effects of asthma (Zhang et al., 2024) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Okamoto et al., 2021). The current study aimed to compare the forced vital capacity (FVC) of various college-aged musicians (N = 28; woodwind [N = 13] and brass [N = 7] instrument players, singers [N = 9]) and non-musicians (N = 35). Participants provided demographic information before completing an FVC test using a spirometer. FVC was compared between instrumental groups, singers, and a non-musician control group by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by t-tests as necessary. While FVC was not significantly different between musicians and non-musicians, males had a significantly (p = 0.00000134) higher FVC than females. Additionally, positive correlation was shown between height and FVC (r = 0.6008) and between weight and FVC (r = 0.4615). Results from this study suggest that while gender, height, and weight likely enhance pulmonary function, musicianship alone may not significantly improve respiratory capacity.
Recommended Citation
Mead, Madeline, "The Long-Term Effect of Playing a Wind Instrument or Singing on Measured Vital Capacity" (2025). ONU Student Research Colloquium. 3.
https://digitalcommons.onu.edu/student_research_colloquium/2025/Posters/3
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The Long-Term Effect of Playing a Wind Instrument or Singing on Measured Vital Capacity
ONU McIntosh Center; Activities Room
Araújo and his colleagues (2020) demonstrated that wind instrument players have higher vital capacities than non-players; however, Studer and colleagues (2019) found otherwise. In addition, a combination of wind instrument playing and singing has been found to lessen effects of asthma (Zhang et al., 2024) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Okamoto et al., 2021). The current study aimed to compare the forced vital capacity (FVC) of various college-aged musicians (N = 28; woodwind [N = 13] and brass [N = 7] instrument players, singers [N = 9]) and non-musicians (N = 35). Participants provided demographic information before completing an FVC test using a spirometer. FVC was compared between instrumental groups, singers, and a non-musician control group by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by t-tests as necessary. While FVC was not significantly different between musicians and non-musicians, males had a significantly (p = 0.00000134) higher FVC than females. Additionally, positive correlation was shown between height and FVC (r = 0.6008) and between weight and FVC (r = 0.4615). Results from this study suggest that while gender, height, and weight likely enhance pulmonary function, musicianship alone may not significantly improve respiratory capacity.