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Updated: Mar 23, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating the Impact of Emotional Prosodies on Voice Recognition and Perception
Published on: August 9, 2024
Stable Voice Clusters Identified When Using the Maximum versus Minimum Intensity Curve in the Phonetogram
Flavio Camarrone1, Anna Ivanova, Wivine Decoster
1Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Objective:
To examine whether the minimum as well as the maximum voice intensity (i.e. sound pressure level, SPL) curves of a voice range profile (VRP) are required when discovering different voice groups based on a clustering analysis. In this approach, no a priori labeling of voice types is used.
Patients And Methods:
VRPs of 194 (84 male and 110 female) professional singers were registered and processed. Cluster analysis was performed with the use of features related to (1) both the maximum and minimum SPL curves and (2) the maximum SPL curve only.
Results:
Features related to the maximum as well as the minimum SPL curves showed three clusters in both male and female voices. These clusters, or voice groups, are based on voice types with similar VRP features. However, when using features related only to the maximum SPL curve, the clusters became less obvious.
Conclusion:
Features related to the maximum and minimum SPL curves of a VRP are both needed in order to identify the three voice clusters.
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