The Aerodigestive Grand Rounds are a free multidisciplinary research meeting supported by the University of Utah Voice Disorders Center and Department of Otolaryngology!
Our invited speaker is my colleague, Dr. Eric Smialek, a musicologist at the University of Huddersfield. I think his work will be particularly interesting to those in the College of Fine Arts. Dr. Smialek will be sharing his work with us entitled: “Size Matters: Koala-tative Measures of Sound-Source Cues from Marsupials to Extreme Vocalists.” A description of the talk is below!
September 22, 2025 from 8:30am–9:30am
https://utah-health.zoom.us/j/95794808062?pwd=wWlYd9PRkunk0casdo7BvQ8WpblCEo.1Meeting ID: 957 9480 8062
Passcode: 594217
Abstract:
Dr. Eric Smialek presents results from ongoing, collaborations involving the University of Huddersfield (UK), the University of Utah’s Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, the University of Vienna’s Space for Interdisciplinary Experiments in Sound, and The Charismatic Voice YouTube channel. Beginning with a brief demonstration of metal vocals, Smialek shows how predatory snarls and animal threat-sounds transfer to the acoustics of death metal vocals. He further shows how degrees of inharmonicity and vowel archetypes distinguish different metal subgenres, facilitating multiple new explorations of this music. One new avenue involves compositional and rehearsal strategies for choirs of metal vocals such as those used by the Montreal-based Growlers Choir. By inductively synthesizing findings from multiple, cross-disciplinary fields, he reveals what zoological research on koalas and red deer bellows can teach us about the acoustics and cultural appeal of vocals in extreme metal music.
Bio:
Eric Smialek is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Huddersfield where he researches expression, technique, and cultural meaning in extreme metal vocals. He recently published an article on metal genre-taxonomies in the journal Volume! and chapters in The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music, Heavy Metal Music and Disability, and Musical Scenes and Social Class. His further specialization on Taylor Swift includes an article on LGBTQ allyship in Contemporary Music Review, co-founding the European Taylor Swift Research Network, and co-organization of the 2024 Taylor Swift unconference in Amsterdam. He serves on the editorial advisory board for the journal Metal Music Studies and as Assistant Editor for IASPM Journal.