A physiological interpretation of vocal registers

Abstract

Vocal registers have been described acoustically and perceptually, but little is yet known about register control at the muscular level. An attempt is made here to describe vocal registers as stable or transitional regions in a four-dimensional space consisting of cricothyroid, thyroarytenoid, interarytenoid, and pulmonary stress. The chest register is shown to be the central and most stable region where conditions for oscillation are optimal. Falsetto and glottal stop are other physiologically stable and robust regions, but conditions for oscillation are less favorable. Vocal fry and creaky phonation tend to manifest themselves as transitional states between stop, chest, and falsetto. Glottographic, electromyographic, and computer simulation data are combined to show the relationships between acoustic, configurational, and muscular characteristics of vocal registers. [Work supported by NINCDS.]