Current position: Departments of the Academy: Vocal Studies: Chair of Audiology and Phoniatrics: Chair of Phoniatrics
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Chair of Phoniatrics

Professor Zygmunt Paw³owski, D.Med.Hab.
The Chair of Phoniatrics was established in 1970, first as the Unit of Phoniatrics, two years later as the Unit of Vocal Physiopathology and in 1980 as the Chair of Phoniatrics. A Unit of Phoniatrics was also established at the AMFC Bialystok Branch in 1998.

The Chair of Phoniatrics has several units:
a) vocal physiopathology, woodwind and brass instruments and breathing,
b) electrolaryngography (ELG),
c) ultrasonography (USG) of the soft palate,
d) termoanaemometrics, i.e., flux volume of the airflow through the nasopharynx (assessment of vocal scale and nasalisation),
e) out-patient clinic - phoniatric consulting office.

The Chair is involved in three different types of activity:

teaching Lectures in the foundations of phoniatrics for student of the Department of Vocal Studies Department and the Instrumental Department, training of physicians specialising in phoniatrics and graduate students from the Warsaw Polytechnic who are interested in the medical applications of technology. The Chair also organises many post-graduate courses on phoniatrics and supervises master, doctoral and post-doctoral dissertations.
research The research profile of the Chair of Phoniatrics is tailored to the needs of the Department of Vocal Studies, other AMFC departments as well as other higher education establishments and institutions. It has produced several inventions and modernised many appliances used in phoniatric and vocal diagnostics. It has published numerous research reports on the following subjects: physiological norms for singers and woodwind and brass orchestra instrumentalists, objective evaluation of the phoniatoric functions of the larynx, visualisation of vibrations of the resonance system of the base, hard palate and soft palate, aerodynamics of respiratory and vocal efficiency in singers and woodwind and brass instrumentalists.
medical care Basic phoniatric medical care involves routine and specialist examination of applicants, periodical check-ups, therapy, rehabilitation and certification, for the AMFC and for other artistic educational establishments in Poland.

Leading areas of scientific research:
The Chair has developed and implemented many new research methods aimed at the objective evaluation of the quality of conditions and the measurement of significant parameters affecting normative and pathological vocal emission and woodwind and brass instrumental production.

Major research and didactic achievements:
Thanks to the development and clinical implementation of several new methods it has been possible to develop: physiological norms for singing and woodwind and brass instrumental production; objective criteria for the evaluation of intonation in singers and blasting in woodwind and brass instrumentalists; objective qualification of type of singing voice; objective evaluation of the phonatory functions of the larynx; evaluation of singing and nasalisation scales; glotograms of vocal fold vibrations and their edges during phonation; sets of holograms visualising the distributions of vibrations of the facial skeleton (basal) skin during singing; evaluation of the scale of voice on the basis of registration of the volume of the airflow through the nasopharynx; the USG-determined structure of the anatomy of the soft palate.

Within the last 25 years members of the Chair of Phoniatrics have taken part in many national and international conferences and congresses organised, for example, by the Polish Otolaryngological Association, the Polish Acoustic Association, The Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering Association of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Music Acoustics Association, the Symposium on Lasers and Applications (USA) etc.

Rationalisation and patents:
1. laryngoscope for the registration of vocal chord vibration, 1963
2. apparatus for the examination of the structure of the soft palate, 1971
3. method of registration of vocal chord vibration and a photolaryngoscope for the registration of vocal chord vibration, 1992
4. apparatus for the assimilation of the pseudowhisper of larynx surgery patients, 1993
5. USG probe for the evaluation of the anatomical structure of the soft palate - patent proposal submitted to the Polish Patent Office, 1999.

Chair Members:
Professor Henryk Skarzynski, Ph. D. Med. - Head of the Chair
Assistant Professor Ewa Kazanecka, Ph. D. Med.
Assistant Professor Agata Szkielkowska, Ph. D. Med.
Aleksandra Muras, Med.
Marek Zoltowski, M.A.
Barbara Kozielewska
Andrzej Niedzialkowski






Compiled by: The Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music