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What about the "actor's formant" in actresses' voices?
Suely Master1, Noemi Grigolleto De Biase, Sandra Madureira
1Department of Performing Arts, Instituto de Artes, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. suely.master@uol.com.br
Summary
Actresses do not exhibit the "actor's formant" (AF) found in male actors. Their voice projection relies on laryngeal adjustments rather than vocal tract resonances, differing from the established actor's formant.
Area of Science:
- Speech and Hearing Science
- Acoustic Phonetics
- Voice Science
Background:
- The "actor's formant" (AF) is a spectrographic voice feature linked to perceived vocal quality in male actors.
- Similar acoustic phenomena have not been identified in actresses' voices, creating a knowledge gap.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate acoustic differences between actresses and non-actresses.
- To determine if actresses exhibit an "actor's formant" or alternative vocal strategies for projection.
Main Methods:
- Acoustic analysis of 30 actresses and 30 non-actresses reading a text at habitual and loud levels.
- Measurements included equivalent sound pressure level (Leq), speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), L1-L0, spectral tilt (alpha ratio), and "AF" region characteristics using Praat software.
Main Results:
- Actresses showed significantly lower speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) and L1-L0 values compared to non-actresses at both vocal levels.
- No significant differences were found in equivalent sound pressure level (Leq) or spectral tilt (alpha ratio) between the groups.
- An "actor's formant" cluster was not identified in the actresses' voices.
Conclusions:
- Actresses' voice projection appears to be achieved through laryngeal adjustments rather than vocal tract resonance strategies associated with the "actor's formant".
- This suggests distinct acoustic strategies for voice production in acting between genders.
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