Mean fundamental frequency in connected speech and sustained vowel with and without a sentence-frame

Introduction: Sustained vowel phonation is a common patient task in the assessment of voice disorders. Free from articulatory influence, it allows for acoustic voice analyses unfeasible for connected speech. Previous research indicates that the fundamental frequency (f) of a self-chosen vowel is not necessarily representative to mean f of the same subject's connected speech.Objective: The purpose was to examine mean f in text reading and to compare it with sustained vowel phonation with and without a sentence-frame. It was hypothesized, that a short phrase of context embedding the prolonged vowel would affect mean f_o of the vowel to be closer to that of text reading.Method: Thirteen vocally healthy women, age 22-27 was audio recorded during three tasks: reading of a standard text, producing an isolated, sustained /a/ and repeating three times a frame sentence with an imbedded /a/ and the third time to sustain the /a/. Mean f_o of the three conditions was analyzed by means of the Praat computer program.Results: The isolated vowel condition differed significantly from the mean f_o of the sentence-framed one, the latter being closest to mean f_o of the reading task. The isolated vowel condition also differed significantly from text reading. The difference in mean f_o between sentence-framed vowel and text reading was not significant.Conclusion: Data support that the use of a sentence-frame is helpful to get a client's f_o elicited from sustained vowel production in voice assessments more representative to that of text reading as compared to an isolated vowel.