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Jun 2011

Volume 129, Issue 6, pp. EL217-4101

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Laryngeal electromyographic responses to perturbations in voice pitch auditory feedback

Hanjun Liu, Roozbeh Behroozmand, Michel Bove, and Charles R Larson

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 129, Issue 6, pp. 3946-3954 (2011); (9 pages) | Cited 2 times

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The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that intrinsic laryngeal muscles are involved in producing voice fundamental frequency (F0) responses to perturbations in voice pitch auditory feedback. Electromyography (EMG) recordings of the cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscles were made with hooked-wire electrodes, while subjects sustained vowel phonations at three different voice F0 levels (conversational, high pitch in head register, and falsetto register) and received randomized pitch shifts (±100 or ±300 cents) in their voice auditory feedback. The median latencies from stimulus onset to the peak in the EMG and voice F0 responses were 167 and 224 ms, respectively. Among the three different F0 levels, the falsetto register produced compensatory EMG responses that occurred prior to vocal responses and increased along with rising voice F0 responses and decreased for falling F0 responses. For the conversational and high voice levels, the EMG response timing was more variable than in the falsetto voice, and changes in EMG activity with relevance to the vocal responses did not follow the consistent trend observed in the falsetto condition. The data from the falsetto condition suggest that both the cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscles are involved in generating the compensatory vocal responses to pitch-shifted voice feedback.
Show PACS
43.70.Bk Models and theories of speech production
43.72.Ar Speech analysis and analysis techniques; parametric representation of speech
43.70.Aj Anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract, speech aerodynamics, auditory kinetics

Vocal tract area functions and formant frequencies in opera tenors’ modal and falsetto registers

Matthias Echternach, Johan Sundberg, Tobias Baumann, Michael Markl, and Bernhard Richter

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 129, Issue 6, pp. 3955-3963 (2011); (9 pages) | Cited 2 times

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According to recent model investigations, vocal tract resonance is relevant to vocal registers. However, no experimental corroboration of this claim has been published so far. In the present investigation, ten professional tenors’ vocal tract configurations were analyzed using MRI volumetry. All subjects produced a sustained tone on the pitch F4 (349 Hz) on the vowel /a/ (1) in modal and (2) in falsetto register. The area functions were estimated from the MRI data and their associated formant frequencies were calculated. In a second condition the same subjects repeated the same tasks in a sound treated room and their formant frequencies were estimated by means of inverse filtering. In both recordings similar formant frequencies were observed. Vocal tract shapes differed between modal and falsetto register. In modal as compared to falsetto the lip opening and the oral cavity were wider and the first formant frequency was higher. In this sense the presented results are in agreement with the claim that the formant frequencies differ between registers.
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43.72.Ar Speech analysis and analysis techniques; parametric representation of speech
43.75.Rs Singing
43.75.Yy Instrumentation and measurement methods for musical acoustics
43.75.St Musical performance, training, and analysis

Production of phonetic and phonological contrast by heritage speakers of Mandarin

Charles B. Chang, Yao Yao, Erin F. Haynes, and Russell Rhodes

J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Volume 129, Issue 6, pp. 3964-3980 (2011); (17 pages) | Cited 1 time

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This study tested the hypothesis that heritage speakers of a minority language, due to their childhood experience with two languages, would outperform late learners in producing contrast: language-internal phonological contrast, as well as cross-linguistic phonetic contrast between similar, yet acoustically distinct, categories of different languages. To this end, production of Mandarin and English by heritage speakers of Mandarin was compared to that of native Mandarin speakers and native American English-speaking late learners of Mandarin in three experiments. In experiment 1, back vowels in Mandarin and English were produced distinctly by all groups, but the greatest separation between similar vowels was achieved by heritage speakers. In experiment 2, Mandarin aspirated and English voiceless plosives were produced distinctly by native Mandarin speakers and heritage speakers, who both put more distance between them than late learners. In experiment 3, the Mandarin retroflex and English palato-alveolar fricatives were distinguished by more heritage speakers and late learners than native Mandarin speakers. Thus, overall the hypothesis was supported: across experiments, heritage speakers were found to be the most successful at simultaneously maintaining language-internal and cross-linguistic contrasts, a result that may stem from a close approximation of phonetic norms that occurs during early exposure to both languages.
Show PACS
43.70.Kv Cross-linguistic speech production and acoustics
43.70.Fq Acoustical correlates of phonetic segments and suprasegmental properties: stress, timing, and intonation
43.70.Bk Models and theories of speech production
43.71.Gv Measures of speech perception (intelligibility and quality)
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