The Perception of Formant Tuning in Soprano Voices (original) (raw)

The tuning of vocal resonances and the upper limit to the high soprano range

2010

The upper limit of the useful range for many sopranos is around C6 or ‘high C’. Others can extend their range well above this. This study investigated how sopranos use the resonances of their vocal tracts in the high and very high ranges. Twelve sopranos (4 non experts, 4 advanced, 4 professionals) produced glissandi up to their highest note (from 1000 to 2300 Hz). Later, they sustained pitches on [a] vowels, from A4 (~440 Hz) to their highest sustainable note, while the frequencies (R1 and R2) of the first two vocal tract resonances were measured by broadband excitation at the mouth. Adjustment of R1 near to f 0 (R1:f 0 tuning) was observed below C6 for both expert and nonexpert singers. Experts began this tuning at lower pitches. Some singers also exhibited R2:2f 0 adjustment over the lower part of the R1:f 0 tuning range. In the very high range (above C6), the singers used one of two strategies. Some extended the R1:f 0 tuning as far as E6 or F#6. Others adjusted R2 near f 0 over...

Formant Tuning Strategies in Professional Male Opera Singers

Journal of Voice, 2013

The term ''formant tuning'' is generally used for the case that one of the lowest formant frequencies coincides with the frequency of a source spectrum partial. Some authors claim that such coincidence is favorable and belongs to the goals of classical opera voice training, whereas other authors have found evidence for advising against it. This investigation analyzes the relationships between formant frequencies and partials in professional singers, who sang scales on the vowels /a/, /u/, /i/, and /ae/ in a pitch range including the passaggio, that is, the fundamental frequency range of approximately 300-400 Hz, applying either of the two singing strategies that are typically used (1) in classical and (2) in nonclassical singing, respectively. Formant frequencies of each note in the scales were measured by inversefiltering the acoustic signal. In the classical style, the first formant tended to be lower than in the nonclassical style. Neither the first nor the second formant tended to change systematically between scale tones, such that on some scale tones either or both formants was just below, just above, or right on a spectrum partial. In many cases, singers produced similar spectrum characteristics of the top tones of the scales with different first and second formant frequencies. Regardless of whether the first formant was slightly lower, slightly higher, or right on a partial, the properties of the voice source did not seem to be affected.

Vocal tract resonances in singing: Strategies used by sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2011

The first two vocal tract resonances (R1 and R2) of 22 classically trained sopranos, altos, tenors, and baritones were measured while they sang four different vowels over their normal pitch range. The resonances of the tract and the harmonics of the voice were measured simultaneously by injecting a broadband acoustic current into the tract at their mouth. Sopranos were found to tune R1 close to the fundamental frequency f(0) (R1:f(0) tuning) over at least part of their upper range for all vowels studied, particularly when f(0) was around or above the value of R1 for speech. Additionally, most sopranos employed R2:2f(0) tuning over some of their range, often simultaneously with R1:f(0) tuning. Altos used R1:f(0) tuning for vowels having lower values of R1 in speech, but can switch to R1:2f(0) tuning in the lower part of their range. Tenors and baritones generally used R1:2f(0) and R1:3f(0) tunings over part of their range and employed a number of different tunings to higher harmonics...

Resonance Tuning in Professional Operatic Sopranos

2018

Soprano singers are capable of singing at pitches exceeding 1000 Hz, where the spacing of the harmonics means that the vocal tract resonances are not fully utilised. Sopranos therefore move the articulators, to "tune" the resonances of the vocal tract near to harmonics of the voice source, improving the efficiency of sound production. Although resonance tuning has been observed in soprano singers, it is not yet understood how this phenomenon is achieved and which articulators play the most significant roles in altering the vocal tract resonances. A preliminary experiment explored the use of broad band noise excitation of the vocal tract to observe resonance tuning behaviour in girl choristers. A second experiment extended this procedure to include MRI to observe the vocal tracts of 6 professional soprano opera singers and investigate how the articulators affect vocal tract resonances. The effects of MRI measurement conditions on singers were also investigated to establish whether measurements obtained during MRI are representative of normal singing. Finally, a perceptual test was conducted to study the perception of different methods of resonance tuning. As expected, considerable R 1 :f 0 tuning, and some R 2 :2f 0 tuning was observed in both groups. MRI revealed some links between resonances and articulators, however no consistent patterns in production were observed across subjects. The results showed strong differences in resonance production between different vowels and subjects, suggesting that resonance tuning production is not only a complex and context-specific topic, but also highly individual.

Vocal tract resonances in singing: The soprano voice

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2004

The vocal tract resonances of trained soprano singers were measured while they sang a range of vowels softly at different pitches. The measurements were made by broad band acoustic excitation at the mouth, which allowed the resonances of the tract to be measured simultaneously with and independently from the harmonics of the voice. At low pitch, when the lowest resonance frequency R1 exceeded f 0 , the values of the first two resonances R1 and R2 varied little with frequency and had values consistent with normal speech. At higher pitches, however, when f 0 exceeded the value of R1 observed at low pitch, R1 increased with f 0 so that R1 was approximately equal to f 0 . R2 also increased over this high pitch range, probably as an incidental consequence of the tuning of R1. R3 increased slightly but systematically, across the whole pitch range measured. There was no evidence that any resonances are tuned close to harmonics of the pitch frequency except for R1 at high pitch. The variations in R1 and R2 at high pitch mean that vowels move, converge, and overlap their positions on the vocal plane (R2,R1) to an extent that implies loss of intelligibility.

Vocal tract adjustments in the high soprano range

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2010

Twelve sopranos with different levels of expertise (4 nonexperts, 4 advanced, 4 professionals) sustained pitches from A4 ( approximately 440 Hz) to their highest pitch (ranging from C6 to D7, i.e., from approximately 1000 to 2300 Hz). The frequencies of their first two vocal tract resonances (R1 and R2) were measured by broadband excitation at the mouth and compared with the voice harmonics (f(0), 2f(0), etc). Lip articulation was measured from simultaneous video recordings. Adjustment of R1 near to f(0) (R1:f(0) tuning) was observed below C6 to D6 ( approximately 1000-1200 Hz) for both expert and non-expert singers. Experts began this tuning at lower pitches. Some singers combine R2:2f(0) adjustment with R1:f(0) tuning. Some singers increased mouth area with increasing pitch over the whole R1:f(0) tuning range. Other singers showed this strategy on the higher part of the R1:f(0) range only, and used another, as yet unidentified, articulatory strategy on the lower part. To achieve v...

Formant tuning in a professional baritone*

Journal of Voice, 1990

Formant tuning, or using vowel modification to approximate one or both of the two lowest resonances of the vocal tract to harmonics of the glottal source, is a technique advocated by certain pedagogies of singing. In this experiment, two sung phonations of a professional baritone are examined for evidence of the tuning by simultaneous recording of audio, electroglottographic (EGG), and subglottal and supraglottal pressures by means of wideband miniature pressure transducers on a catheter passed through the glottis. The considerable resonance-enhancing effects of formant tuning appear to be intentionally exploited by the singer in response to the demands of the musical phrase. Key Words: Formant--Singing--Subglottal pressure--Supraglottal pressure--Pedagogy of singing--Fundamental frequency--Spectrogram.

Formant strategies of professional female singers at high fundamental frequencies

When the soprano raises the fundamental frequency above the first formant of a vowel, a remarkable loss of acoustic energy and linguistic information occurs along with an abrupt change in the voice timbre. To avoid these effects, sopranos are assumed to tune their first formant to the raised fundamental frequency. The support for this claim is mostly based on formant data provided by indirect measurement methods and articulatory data, since direct acoustic data becomes more difficult (or even impossible) to obtain as the fundamental frequency gets higher. In the present study a new combination of measurement methods is introduced. The aim was to extract formant data of three sopranos in the entire set of the Hungarian vowel inventory in a wide pitch range. The results provide evidence for the technique of tuning the first formant to the raised high fundamental frequency in a substantial amount of data.

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.

Vowel Modification (Aggiustamento) in Soprano Voices

Music & Science, 2021

Singers convey meaning via both text and music. As sopranos balance tone quality and diction, vowel intelligibility is often compromised at high pitches. This study examines how sopranos modify their vowels against an increasing fundamental, and in turn how such vowel modification affects vowel intelligibility. We examine the vowel modification process of three non-central vowels in Cantonese ([a], [ɛ] and [ɔ]) using the spectral centroid. Acoustic results suggest that overall vowel modification is conditioned by vowel height in mid-ranges and by vowel frontness in higher ranges. In a following perception task, listeners identified and discriminated vowels at pitches spanning an octave from A4 (nominally 440 Hz) to G♯5 (nominally 831 Hz). Results showed that perceptual accuracy rates of the three vowels’ match their acoustic patterns. The overall results suggest that vowels are not modified in a unified way in sopranos’ voices, implying that research on sopranos’ singing strategies ...