A case study of successful voice imitation

Our voices and speech behaviour give cues to the listener as to our identity. These cues make it possible for the listener to recognise a voice without seeing the speaker. A professional impersonator has to identify the salient and characteristic features of the target voice in order to succeed. The present phonetic study of a Swedish professional impersonator and one of his voice imitations compares the target voice, the voice imitation and the impersonator's own voice. The findings indicate that a successful impersonation is the result of the impersonator's ability to alter his voice in numerous ways.