Perceptual significance of the center frequency of singer's formant

Abstract

The singer's formant is characteristic of operatic basses, baritones, tenors, and altos. It is unclear, however, whether sopranos possess it. The perceptual relevance of the center frequency of the singer's formant (SFcf) was examined through listening tests using singing synthesis. The singer's formant was synthesized by clustering formants three, four, and five. Two questions were raised: 1) how important is the SFcf to voice classification? and 2) can a SFcf be found such that a male singer's formant is accepted as an appropriate ingredient of a soprano voice? The SFcf was found to clearly influence voice classification. Increasing it up to 3.4 kHz improved the perceived quality of the soprano synthesis. For the most highpitched tones, a soprano synthesis with more widely spread higher formants was preferred.