Multidimensional analyses of voicing offsets and onsets in female speakers

This study investigates cross-speaker differences in the factors that predict voicing thresholds during abduction-adduction gestures in six normal women. Measures of baseline airflow, pulse amplitude, subglottal pressure, and fundamental frequency were made at voicing offset and onset during intervocalic /h/, produced in varying vowel environments and at different loudness levels, and subjected to relational analyses to determine which factors were most strongly related to the timing of voicing cessation or initiation. The data indicate that (a) all speakers showed differences between voicing offsets and onsets, but the degree of this effect varied across speakers; (b) loudness and vowel environment have speaker-specific effects on the likelihood of devoicing during /h/; and (c) baseline flow measures significantly predicted times of voicing offset and onset in all participants, but other variables contributing to voice timing differed across speakers. Overall, the results suggest that individual speakers have unique methods of achieving phonatory goals during running speech. These data contribute to the literature on individual differences in laryngeal function, and serve as a means of evaluating how well laryngeal models can reproduce the range of voicing behavior used by speakers during running speech tasks.