Perception of high-frequency energy in singing and speech.

Abstract

Traditionally, acoustical energy above 5000 Hz in voice and speech has received little attention from the scientific community. Some recent studies have explored the role of this high-frequency energy (HFE) in qualitative percepts of speech and music. To determine what other perceptual information is extractable from this frequency range, listeners were presented with tokens containing only HFE from samples of singing and speech (i.e., singing and speech high-pass filtered at approximately 5.7 kHz). Results showed that listeners could successfully discriminate gender and mode of production (speech versus singing) given only acoustical energy above 5 kHz. Additionally, listeners successfully identified the song being sung and the words being spoken. The implication is that HFE potentially plays a more significant role in perception of singing and speech than that suggested by the current understanding. [Work supported by the NIH-NIDCD.]