Voice source characteristics in six premier country singers

Area of Science:

• Acoustic phonetics and voice science.
• Vocal pedagogy and singing technique.
• Speech production and voice disorders.

Background:

• Understanding voice source characteristics is crucial for analyzing vocal production in singing and speech.
• Previous research has explored voice source parameters, but specific analyses in country music genres are less common.
• Investigating the interplay between vocal loudness, fundamental frequency, and glottal parameters offers insights into vocal fold function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze voice source characteristics in country singers during both speech and singing tasks.
• To examine the relationship between closed quotient, glottal compliance, vocal loudness, and fundamental frequency.
• To compare voice source parameters between speech and singing within the same individuals.

Main Methods:

• Inverse filtering techniques were employed to derive voice source characteristics.
• Acoustic analysis was performed on speech and singing samples from six country singers.
• Expert listeners evaluated the degree of phonatory press.

Main Results:

• The closed quotient showed a systematic variation with vocal loudness.
• Glottal compliance decreased with increasing fundamental frequency but was not affected by vocal loudness.
• No significant differences in voice source characteristics were observed between speech and singing within participants.

Conclusions:

• Voice source parameters in country singers exhibit specific behaviors related to vocal loudness and fundamental frequency.
• The findings suggest that the physiological mechanisms underlying voice production may be similar in speech and singing for these artists.
• The degree of phonatory press is influenced by singing range and sound pressure level gain.