Dr. Orietta CALCINONI

Born in Milan, where she lives and works, ENT and Phoniatrician. Since 1987 works with Teatro alla Scala, from 2009 in charge as ENT/Phoniatrician in Theatre’s Health Service and Health surveillance of Choir Artists and Orchestra Professors. Part of the team producing the National Guidelines about Noise Protection in Entertainment Sector in 2012. With Maestro Edoardo Cazzaniga developed the project “Science and Art in Voice “ whose results were published ISBN 978-884676116-3. With Teatro alla Scala Health responsible, MD Terenzio Cassina and  Milan University Audiology Colleagues set up and carried on a project about hearing assessment and preservation in professional lyric orchestra and choir artists (results in evaluation). With Milan Politecnico experts Prof. Francesco Romano, Prof. Raffaele Dellacà, set up and carried on a project on singers’ and wind players respiratory patterns (results in evaluation). Expert member and Treasurer in Italian Committee for the Safeguard of Practice of Italian Opera Singing. AIOLP (Italian Association of Private ENTs) President 2022-2024. Member of UEP Voice Committee.

Mette Pedersen, MD, PhD, ear-nose-throat (ENT) specialist and clinical researcher with more than four decades of experience in otolaryngology and voice medicine. My work has focused on advanced diagnostics of voice disorders, combining objective voice measurement, imaging technologies, and evidence-based clinical practice to improve assessment and treatment of both speaking and singing voices.I graduated in medicine from the University of Copenhagen and became a certified ENT specialist in Denmark in 1975. In 1997, I completed my PhD at Gentofte University Hospital in collaboration with Oulu University, Finland, focusing on the biological development of the normal voice during puberty. My early work on adolescent voice change, including a multivariate statistical analysis of puberty-related voice phenomena in choir boys, remains a foundational contribution to the field (Pedersen et al., Folia Phoniatrica 1985;37(5–6):271–278. doi:10.1159/000265808).

Clinically, I have worked primarily in Copenhagen, maintaining long-term ENT and phoniatric practices and establishing one of the first specialized agreements with the Copenhagen healthcare system for stroboscopic and advanced instrumental voice diagnostics. In parallel, I served as a consultant laryngologist for major hospitals and for the Copenhagen school system, integrating objective voice measures into routine assessment of pediatric and adolescent voice disorders.

My academic work spans evidence-based normative voice standards, advanced imaging, and voice-related biomarkers. I am the author of Normal Development of Voice in Children: Advances in Evidence-Based Standards (Springer, 2008/2024), widely cited for its integration of acoustic, physiological, and developmental data. Most recently, I co-edited the Springer volume Voice-Related Biomarkers, which brings together international clinical and scientific expertise on acoustic, physiological, perceptual, and imaging-based biomarkers for voice assessment, with a particular focus on clinical applicability and translational relevance. I have also contributed key studies on imaging-based biomarkers, including protocols for optical coherence tomography (OCT) in laryngeal tissue evaluation. I have authored and co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and have organized international symposia, including serving as President of the Seventh World Voice Consortium Congress. My current work focuses on integrating clinical voice medicine with high-resolution imaging and machine learning to support objective, reproducible voice diagnostics.

Ramón Hernández-Villoria [ra.ˈ moŋ | eɾ.ˈ nan.des.bi. ˈʝo.ɾja.]

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7361-2919

Born and living in Venezuela, South America.

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where I graduated as Medical Doctor in 1995. Four years later I got my postgraduated degree as Specialist in Phoniatrics. Many years after I got degree as M.Sc. in  in Linguistics. From 2000 to 2020 I was Titular Professor in Instituto Universitario Venezolano de la Audición y el Lenguaje. I runned also like Invited Professor in Universidad Central de Venezuela (Occupational Medicine) Universidad de los Andes-Mérida (Applied Phonetics), Universidad Santa María (Pediatric Dentistry) and now, in Universidad de Oriente. From 2008 through 2012 I coordinated the academic teamwork that designed the non-medical National Training Program in Fonoaudiología (speech therapy and technical audiology), which led to the opening of the respective degree in seven public universities.

 I have participated as a speaker in numerous conferences on phoniatrics, language and speech therapy and audiology at an international level. In fact, I was the first native of my country to give oral presentations at the International Congress of the former International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics (at Turin 2013) and World Congress of Audiology (at Melbourne, 2014). Also, I have been part of Faculty of 31^st UEP (Union of European Phoniatricians) Congress in Praga, 2025.

 From 2008 to 2016 I was National Coordinator of Ministry of Health for Hearing, Voice and Speech Disabilities. In this function I developed the setting of the National Hearing Aids Laboratories Network in 16 of 24 States. Also, I set the National Neonatal Hearing Screening in 120 Hospitals in 24/24 States. Thirty two Phoniatics Services over 18 States were developed in this period.

Since 2016 I have been dedicated to private practice in my own 2008 founded clinic: "Centro Clínico de Audición y Lenguaje Cealca" and also I work in the "Hospital de Clínicas Caracas" since 2018. I focus on audiovestibular medicine, voice acoustic analysis, swallowing, language in children and adults.

I am an independent researcher, investigating about auditory electrophysiology and voice acoustic analysis. In this field, I am co-editor of the book “Voice-related biomarkers”, published in 2025.

Currently, I am a member of Union of European Phoniatricians (UEP), since 2016, and now I am integrating these UEP-Committees: Education, Hearing & Language and Biomarkers in Phoniatrics. I am a member since 2024 of the Collegium Medicorum Theatri, an international medical society on artistic voice. I have been member of International Association of Phoniatrics and Logopedic (IALP), of International Society of Audiology (ISA) as well as International Phonetics Association (IPA). Besides, I am member of International Society for Clinical Physiology and Physiopathology (ISCPP) based in Moscow. In Venezuela, I was Board Secretary of the "Sociedad Venezolana de Foniatría" since 2006 until 2022