Subglottal pressure and normalized amplitude quotient variation in classically trained baritone singers

Abstract

The subglottal pressure (Ps) and voice source characteristics of five professional baritone singers have been analyzed and the normalized amplitude quotient (NAQ), defined as the ratio between peak-to-peak pulse amplitude and the negative peak of the differentiated flow glottogram and normalized with respect to the period time, was used as an estimate of glottal adduction. The relationship between Ps and NAQ has been investigated in female subjects in two earlier studies. One of these revealed NAQ differences between both singing styles and phonation modes, and the other, based on register differences in female musical theatre singers, showed that NAQ differed between registers for the same Ps value. These studies thus suggest that NAQ and its variation with Ps represent a useful parameter in the analysis of voice source characteristics. The present study aims at increasing our knowledge of the NAQ parameter further by finding out how it varies with pitch and Ps in professional classically trained baritone singers, singing at high and low pitch (278 Hz and 139 Hz, respectively). Ten equally spaced Ps values were selected from three takes of the syllable [pae:], initiated at maximum vocal loudness and repeated with a continuously decreasing vocal loudness. The vowel sounds following the selected Ps peaks were inverse filtered. Data on peak-to-peak pulse amplitude, maximum flow declination rate and NAQ are presented.