Comparisons of Voice Onset Time for Trained Male Singers and Male Nonsingers During Speaking and Singing

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the temporal acoustic differences between male trained singers and nonsingers during speaking and singing across voiced and voiceless English stop consonants. Recordings were made of 5 trained singers and 5 nonsingers, and acoustically analyzed for voice onset time (VOT). A mixed analysis of variance showed that the male trained singers had significantly longer mean VOT than did the nonsingers during voiceless stop production. Sung productions of voiceless stops had significantly longer mean VOTs than did the spoken productions. No significant differences were observed for the voiced stops, nor were any interactions observed. These results indicated that vocal training and phonatory task have a significant influence on VOT.