Male and female speech: a study of mean f0, f0 range, phonation type and speech rate in Parisian French and American English speakers

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on acoustic differences between female and male speech. However, they have generally been led on speakers of only one language, and have focused on a single acoustic parameter. The present study is an acoustic analysis of dissyllabic words or pseudo-words produced by 10 Northeastern American English speakers (5 females, 5 males) and 10 Parisian French speakers (5 females, 5 males). Several prosodic parameters were measured: mean f0, f0 range, phonation type (through H1-H2 intensity differences) and words' duration. Significant cross-gender differences were obtained for each tested parameter. Moreover, cross-language variations were observed for f0 range, and H1-H2 differences. These results suggest that cross-gender acoustic differences are partly language-dependent and could be socially constructed.