Pitch Effects on Vowel Roughness and Spectral Noise for Subjects in Four Musical Voice Classifications

1991 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Newman ◽  
Floyd W. Emanuel

This study was designed to investigate the effects of vocal f o on vowel spectral noise level (SNL) and perceived vowel roughness for subjects in high- and low-pitch voice categories. The subjects were 40 adult singers (10 each sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses). Each produced the vowel /a/ in isolation at a comfortable speaking pitch, and at each of seven assigned pitches spaced at whole-tone intervals over a musical octave within his or her singing pitch range. The eight /a/ productions were repeated by each subject on a second test day. The SNL differences between repeated test samples (different days) were not statistically significant for any subject group. For the vowel samples produced at a comfortable pitch, a relatively large SNL was associated with samples phonated by the subjects of each sex who manifested the relatively low singing pitch range. Regarding the vowel samples produced at the assigned-pitch levels, it was found that both vowel SNL and perceived vowel roughness decreased as test-pitch level was raised over a range of one octave. The relationship between vocal pitch and either vowel roughness or SNL approached linearity for each of the four subject groups.

Author(s):  
Takahiro Yokozuka ◽  
Hitoshi Miyamoto ◽  
Masatoshi Kasai ◽  
Yoshihiro Miyake ◽  
Takayuki Nozawa

1992 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Zwirner ◽  
Gary J. Barnes

Acoustic analyses of upper airway and phonatory stability were conducted on samples of sustained phonation to evaluate the relation between laryngeal and articulomotor stability for 31 patients with dysarthria and 12 non-dysarthric control subjects. Significantly higher values were found for the variability in fundamental frequency and formant frequency of patients who have Huntington’s disease compared with normal subjects and patients with Parkinson’s disease. No significant correlations were found between formant frequency variability and the variability of the fundamental frequency for any subject group. These findings are discussed as they pertain to the relationship between phonatory and upper airway subsystems and the evaluation of vocal tract motor control impairments in dysarthria.


2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 468-479
Author(s):  
Ana Isabel Pereira ◽  
Helena Rodrigues

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between Portuguese children's use of singing voice and their singing accuracy on the pitches belonging to the Singing Voice Development Measure (SVDM) criterion patterns (Rutkowski, 2015), as well as the influence on singing with a neutral syllable or text on both variables. Children aged 4 to 9 (n = 137) were administered the SVDM individually and three raters evaluated recordings of the children's singing, both for the use of singing voice (i.e., effective use of pitch range and register) and singing accuracy. Prior to data analysis, the validity and reliability of the measure was examined and assured. A significant relationship was found between both variables. Favoring the neutral syllable, significant differences were found in response mode for singing accuracy, but not for use of singing voice, suggesting that the use of neutral syllable in classroom singing activities might be beneficial to improve accuracy. Older children and girls obtained higher scores for the use of singing voice and accuracy. Within a common pitch range, children with higher SVDM scores sang accurately a higher number of pitches, suggesting that expanding children's use of singing voice might also improve singing accuracy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 3393-3403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Bouserhal ◽  
Annelies Bockstael ◽  
Ewen MacDonald ◽  
Tiago H. Falk ◽  
Jérémie Voix

Purpose Studying the variations in speech levels with changing background noise level and talker-to-listener distance for talkers wearing hearing protection devices (HPDs) can aid in understanding communication in background noise. Method Speech was recorded using an intra-aural HPD from 12 different talkers at 5 different distances in 3 different noise conditions and 2 quiet conditions. Results This article proposes models that can predict the difference in speech level as a function of background noise level and talker-to-listener distance for occluded talkers. The proposed model complements the existing model presented by Pelegrín-García, Smits, Brunskog, and Jeong (2011) and expands on it by taking into account the effects of occlusion and background noise level on changes in speech sound level. Conclusions Three models of the relationship between vocal effort, background noise level, and talker-to-listener distance for talkers wearing HPDs are presented. The model with the best prediction intervals is a talker-dependent model that requires the users' unoccluded speech level at 10 m as a reference. A model describing the relationship between speech level, talker-to-listener distance, and background noise level for occluded talkers could eventually be incorporated with radio protocols to transmit verbal communication only to an intended set of listeners within a given spatial range—this range being dependent on the changes in speech level and background noise level.


1979 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazutomo Kitajima ◽  
Masahiro Tanabe ◽  
Nobuhiko Isshiki

To establish an experimental basis for surgical approximation of the anterior cricothyroid distance which aims at raising the vocal pitch, the relationship between vocal pitch and the cricothyroid distance was analyzed in voices produced with excised human larynges (four male and two female larynges). Within the framework of the experimental conditions, the following conclusions were drawn: 1) The vocal pitch expressed in semitones was almost linearly related to the cricothyroid distance, with an increase of 0.15 to 0.90 semitones per millimeter of cricothyroid approximation. 2) The rise in vocal pitch reached a plateau when the force applied to shorten the cricothyroid distance reached 30 to 50 gm.


Buildings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Zalejska-Jonsson

The study presented in this paper focuses on the subjective opinions of occupants of multistory residential buildings by examining the relationship between occupants’ satisfaction and indoor environment quality, and analysing the effect the problems experienced with noise level may have on general satisfaction and the perceived acoustic quality. The analysis is based on data collected through surveys addressed to adults living in green and conventional buildings. The results show that occupants are very satisfied with their apartments, and subjectively rated acoustic quality received very high scores. The responses indicate that noise from neighbours has been experienced relatively seldom by occupants; however, the analysis shows that it is the factor that has the strongest effect on satisfaction with acoustic quality. We have found that the environmental profile of a building has a significant effect on general satisfaction expressed by occupants; however, this effect has not been confirmed for acoustic quality.


1976 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Geringer

The purpose of this study was to investigate tuning preferences regarding recorded orchestral music. Specifically, the study was designed to test subjects' tuning preferences while investigating both the direction and magnitude of mistuning. Sixty randomly selected undergraduate and graduate music students modulated a variable speed tape recorder to preferred pitch levels. Stimuli were recorded excerpts of ten orchestral works, each representative of a different key. Subjects listened to the thirty-second excerpts and turned a linear continuous-speed control knob with a pitch range of approximately an augmented fourth. Data consisted of cent deviation scores relative to A = 440 Hz. Results indicated a marked propensity to tune these excerpts sharper than their recorded pitch level. Subjects' responses indicated the mean cent deviation for sharp tunings to be 149.29 cents (approximately 11/2 semi-tones); when tuning flat, the mean deviation was 88.43 cents.


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