Characteristics of Buddhist chanting in Japanese temples

Abstract

Buddhist monks change the way of voice production according to the ceremony, and associated acoustical changes have not yet been examined scientifically. In this study, three kinds of chanting voices were recorded in Japanese Buddhist temples and analyzed. The difference in voice production between chanting and normal speech was reflected in the loudness, fundamental frequency, pitch strength, and spectral centroid, which is characterized by autocorrelation function. Voice production in each stage of Nembutsu-Wasan singing was characterized by the loudness, fundamental frequency, and pitch strength.