Sound and video examples complementing the article „Three registers in an untrained female singer analyzed by videokymography, strobolaryngoscopy and sound spectrography (original) (raw)
Related papers
The acoustics of registers and resonances in singing
The wide range of the singing voice, from below C2 (65 Hz) to above F6 (1397 Hz), requires a number of strategies that can involve different mechanisms of laryngeal vibration and various adjustments of the vocal tract resonances. The adjustments are made because a vocal tract resonance can boost the radiation of a voice harmonic when it falls close to a resonance frequency. Here we report how singers with different voice categories tune their vocal tract resonances. For the lower voices, the lowest resonance R1 is sometimes tuned to a high harmonic, while high voices consistently tune R1 to the fundamental over a range of about C5 to C6 (523 to 1046 Hz). The second resonance, R2, can be simultaneously tuned to the second harmonic in the pitch range C5 to F5 (523 to 700 Hz). At the very highest pitches, sopranos can no longer increase R1 sufficiently and must then switch to adjusting R2 so its frequency is close to that of the fundamental.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008
There has been a lack of objective data on the singing voice registers, particularly on the so called "whistle" register, occurring in the top part of the female pitch range, which is accessible only to some singers. This memo offers unique sound recordings and laryngoscopic video recordings of an untrained female singer capable of producing three distinct voice qualities, i.e., the chest, head and whistle registers. The transition from chest to head register, accompanied by pitch jumps, occurred near B4-C#5 (500 -550 Hz) and was found to be associated with a slight decrease in arytenoids adduction, resulting in decrease of the closed quotient. The register shifts from head to whistle, also accompanied by pitch jumps, occurred around tones E5-B5 (670-1000 Hz) without any noticeable changes in arytenoids adduction. Some evidence was found for the vocal tract influence on this transition. The mechanism of the vocal fold vibration in whistle register was found principally similar to that at lower registers: vibrations along the whole glottal length and vertical phase differences (indicated by sharp lateral peaks in videokymography) were seen on the vocal folds up to the highest tone G6 (1590 Hz). The sound and video examples described in this memo can be downloaded from the web at www.ncvs.org/ncvs/library/tech.
lib.ioa.ac.cn
Musical theatre singing typically requires females to use two vocal registers. Physiological differences between these registers, however, have not been explicated. Our investigation considered voice source and subglottal pressure P s characteristics of these registers, here referred to as chest and head register. These were studied by inverse filtering the oral airflow recorded for a sequence of /pae/ syllables sung at constant pitch and decreasing vocal loudness in each register by seven female professional musical theatre singers. Ten equidistantly spaced P s values were selected and the relationships between P s and several parameters were examined; closed quotient Q closed , peak-to-peak pulse amplitude U p-t-p , negative peak of the differentiated flow glottogram, i.e., the maximum flow declination rate (MFDR)
Journal of Voice, 2012
Hypothesis. Commercial singers produce chestmix register by maintaining or increasing adduction of the vocal processes (VPs) and by engaging the thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle to a greater degree than they would to produce head register. Study Design. Prospective cohort study. Methods. Simultaneous recordings of TA and cricothyroid (CT) muscle activity, videonasendoscopy, and audio were obtained from seven female singers during production of a variety of midrange pitches in chest, chestmix, headmix, and head registers. Fast Fourier transforms were performed to measure the energy in the fundamental frequency and in mid and upper frequency harmonics to determine if the productions that were judged as perceptually distinct registers also showed distinctive acoustic characteristics. Then, measures of TA and CT muscle activity and vocal fold adduction ratings were obtained to determine how these varied as a function of pitch and register. Results. Spectral tilt increased as subjects shifted from chest to chestmix to headmix and finally into head register. For same pitch phonation, subjects increased TA muscle activity and vocal fold adduction as they shifted register from head to headmix to chestmix to chest, particularly during production of higher frequencies. CT activity appeared to be more related to pitch rather than register control. Conclusion. Nonclassically trained singers were able to produce pitches at the high end of the midrange in chestmix register by increasing TA muscle activity and adduction of the VPs.
1999
The paper concerns the quest to find acoustical parameters that describe properties of vocal fold functioning from professional singing to voice pathologies. Improved data handling within the framework of phonetogram recordings has been used to arrive at a better understanding of what acoustical parameters could tell us about vocal registers.
Vocal Fold Vibration and Phonation Start in Aspirated, Unaspirated, and Staccato Onset
Journal of Voice, 2011
Singers learn to produce well-controlled tone onsets by accurate synchronization of glottal adduction and buildup of subglottal pressure. Spectrographic analyses have shown that the higher spectrum partials are present also at the vowel onset in classically trained singers' performances. Such partials are produced by a sharp discontinuity in the waveform of the transglottal airflow, presumably produced by vocal fold collision. Study Design. After hearing a prompt series of a triad pattern, six singer subjects sang the same triad pattern on the vowel /i/ (1) preceded by an aspirated /p/, (2) preceded by an unaspirated /p/, and (3) without any preceding consonant in staccato. Methods. Using high-speed imaging we examined the initiation of vocal fold vibration in aspirated and unaspirated productions of the consonant /p/ as well as in the staccato tones. Results. The number vibrations failing to produce vocal fold collision were significantly higher in the aspirated /p/ than in the unaspirated /p/ and in the staccato tones. High frequency ripple in the audio waveform was significantly delayed in the aspirated /p/. Conclusions. Initiation of vocal fold collision and the appearance of high-frequency ripple in the vowel /i/ are slightly delayed in aspirated productions of a preceding consonant /p/.
2011
In-depth study on laryngeal biomechanics and vocal fold vibratory patterns reveal that a single vibratory cycle can be divided into two major phases, the closed and open phase, which is subdivided into opening and closing phases. Studies reveal that the relative time course of abduction and adduction, which in turn is dependent on the relative relaxing and tensing of the vocal fold cover and body, to be the determining factor in production of a particular vocal register like the modal (or chest), falsetto, glottal fry registers. Studies further point out Electroglottography to be particularly suitable for the study of vocal vibratory patterns during register changes. However, to date, there has been limited study on quantitative parameterization of EGG wave form in vocal fry register. Moreover, contradictory findings abound in literature regarding effects of gender and vowel types on vocal vibratory patterns, especially during phonation at different registers. The present study ende...
2004
Musical theater singing typically requires women to use two vocal registers. Our investigation considered voice source and subglottal pressure P s characteristics of the speech pressure signal recorded for a sequence of /pae/ syllables sung at constant pitch and decreasing vocal loudness in each register by seven female musical theater singers. Ten equally spaced P s values were selected, and the relationships between P s and several parameters were examined; closed-quotient (Q closed ), peak-to-peak pulse amplitude (U p-t-p ), amplitude of the negative peak of the differentiated flow glottogram, ie, the maximum flow declination rate (MFDR), and the normalized amplitude quotient (NAQ) [U p-t-p /(T0*MFDR)], where T0 is the fundamental period. P s was typically slightly higher in chest than in head register. As P s influences the measured glottogram parameters, these were also compared at an approximately identical P s of 11 cm H 2 O. Results showed that for typical tokens, MFDR and Q closed were significantly greater, whereas U p-t-p and therefore NAQ were significantly lower in chest than in head.