Speaker Sex Identification Utilizing a Constant Laryngeal Source

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that the sex of speakers can be reliably and accurately identified in the absence of idiosyncratic glottal wave forms. This finding led to the hypothesis that there are other sex‐related differences in the supraglottal vocal tract which produce discriminable acoustic differences in speech. As a test of this hypothesis, ten males and ten females counted to ten and read the second sentence of the “Rainbow Passage” using an electronic artificial larynx (F0=120 Hz) with a closed glottis. Tho vocalizations were tape recorded, randomized, and played to 30 listeners who then determined the speakers' sex. Later, the vocalizations were subjected to a sound spectrum analysis. Results indicated that male voices with energy concentrations shifted toward the lower frequencies were identified above chance as were females with energy concenctrations shifted toward the higher frequencies. Speakers whose energy concentrations were centralized were most often confused. These results confirm the hyp...