Voiced bilabial fricative /ß:/ as a vocal exercise: An electroglottographic and acoustic investigation

Abstract

The voiced bilabial fricative /s:/ is used as a vocal exercise. The present study was carried out in order to obtain data on the effects of that exercise on voice quality. This study compared 1) the electroglottographic signals obtained from (a) vowel phonation on /v:/ with those obtained from the production of this vocal exercise and (b) vowel phonation before and immediately after the production of the exercise and 2) the acoustic signals from vowel production before and after the exercise. The results seem to suggest that when the bilabial fricative was phonated with a firm closure at the lips the glottal activity was increased and that this effect was to some extent transferred to the vowel phonation immediately after the exercise. When the closure was loose at the lips opposite observations were made.