Regional cerebral blood flow for singers and nonsingers while speaking, singing, and humming a rote passage

Two groups of singers (n = 12,13) and a group of nonsingers (n = 12) each produced the national anthem by (1) speaking and (2) singing the words, and by (3) humming the melody. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured at rest and during each phonation task from seven areas in each hemisphere by the 133‐Xe‐inhalation method. Global, intrahemisphere, and interhemisphere rCBF were generally similar across phonation tasks and did not yield appreciable differences among the nonsingers and the singers. From these rCBF data, it was concluded that: (1) the normal production of a familiar passage by speaking, singing, or humming requires the interaction of both cerebral hemispheres more or less equally and (2) these tasks are relatively independent of musical training. [Research supported by NIH.]