Preferred self-to-other ratios in choir singing

Area of Science:

• Music Acoustics
• Psychoacoustics
• Vocal Performance

Background:

• Choir singers need to balance their voice with others for optimal performance.
• Understanding self-to-other ratio (SOR) preferences can inform stage and choral arrangement design.
• Previous research has not fully detailed individual singer preferences for SOR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally determine choir singers' preferred self-to-other ratios (SOR).
• To investigate how factors like vocal part, vowel, and phonation frequency influence preferred SOR.
• To compare preferred SORs with those measured in actual choir performances.

Main Methods:

• Singers (sopranos, altos, tenors, basses) sang vowels with synthesized choir accompaniment.
• Participants adjusted their distance to a microphone to achieve a comfortable self-to-other ratio (SOR).
• SOR was measured at the preferred listening location under various singing conditions.

Main Results:

• Preferred self-to-other ratios (SORs) were generally similar to, but slightly higher than, those in actual performances.
• Individual preferences for SOR showed narrow tolerances (+/- 2 dB) but wide inter-singer variation (-1 to +15 dB).
• No significant difference in preferred SOR was found between unison and four-part singing tasks.

Conclusions:

• Singer preferences for self-to-other ratio (SOR) are highly individualized.
• The findings provide valuable data for optimizing acoustic environments and formations in choirs.
• Further research is needed to clarify the influence of phonation frequency and vowel on SOR preferences.