Modal Voice Research Articles

Breathy Voice and the Oxytonic or the Paroxytonic Rhythm in the Reproduction of Thought Creations in German-Language Conversations

This research is based on the assumption that the breathy voice within a set of linguistic-prosodic features, in addition to the reproduction of already realized utterances, marking utterances that the speaker assumes participants of possible future events could utter and marking added fictive utterances in German-language conversations is also used for reproduction of other thought creations. The corpus of this research consists of clips from conversations conducted within German phone-in radio shows, with each of them containing a single use of breathy voice. The analysis shows that the breathy voice is realized in one part of the reported speech and then remains without breathiness, leaving the modal voice. In the analysis, reported speech partly represented the verbalization of assumed utterances or concrete utterances realized multiple times in the past. Thought creations whose reconstructions were verbalized included, in addition to utterances, previous thoughts or assumed thoughts of others.

An investigation of acoustic cues to tonal registers and voicing in Donglei Kama).

The Kam language has experienced historical tonal splits, resulting in the development of a complex tonal system. However, there is still limited knowledge regarding the acoustic characteristics associated with aspiration-based tone splitting. This study aims to investigate the acoustic cues related to the tonal registers and laryngeal configurations in Donglei Kam, a dialect of Southern Kam. Sixteen native speakers of Donglei Kam participated, producing lexical tones. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine the acoustic distinctions between tonal registers, using measurements of voice onset time, spectral tilt, noise, and energy. The results indicated that Donglei Kam retained a two-way contrast of aspiration, albeit with a trend toward gradual loss. Additionally, a breathy voice was detected in the Ciyin tonal register, characterized by elevated spectral tilt values and spectral noise throughout the vowels. Moreover, machine learning classifiers effectively identified tonal registers using voice-quality data, suggesting that the phonation contrast between breathy and modal voice could contribute to the tonal split alongside pitch contrast. In summary, these findings enhance our understanding of the acoustic implementation of breathiness in Kam and offer valuable insights into the role of laryngeal contrast in tonal splits.

Phonation Patterns in Spanish Vowels: Spectral and Spectrographic Analysis

This article provides a detailed examination of voice quality in word-final vowels in Spanish. The experimental task involved the pronunciation of words in two prosodic contexts by native Spanish speakers from diverse dialects. A total of 400 vowels (10 participants × 10 words × 2 contexts × 2 repetitions) were analyzed acoustically in Praat. Waveforms and spectrograms were inspected visually for voice, creak, breathy voice, and devoicing cues. In addition, the relative amplitude difference between the first two harmonics (H1–H2) was obtained via FFT spectra. The findings reveal that while creaky voice is pervasive, breathy voice is also common, and devoicing occurs in 11% of tokens. We identify multiple phonation types (up to three) within the same vowel, of which modal voice followed by breathy voice was the most common combination. While creaky voice was more frequent overall for males, modal voice tended to be more common in females. In addition, creaky voice was significantly more common at the end of higher prosodic constituents. The analysis of spectral tilt shows that H1–H2 clearly distinguishes breathy voice from modal voice in both males and females, while H1–H2 values consistently discriminate creaky and modal voice in male participants only.

Sensitivity of Phonation Onset Pressure to Vocal Fold Stiffness Distribution.

Phonation onset is characterized by the unstable growth of vocal fold (VF) vibrations that ultimately results in self-sustained oscillation and the production of modal voice. Motivated by histological studies, much research has focused on the role of the layered structure of the vocal folds in influencing phonation onset, wherein the outer "cover" layer is relatively soft and the inner "body" layer is relatively stiff. Recent research, however, suggests that the body-cover (BC) structure over-simplifies actual stiffness distributions by neglecting important spatial variations, such as inferior-superior (IS) and anterior-posterior gradients and smooth transitions in stiffness from one histological layer to another. Herein, we explore sensitivity of phonation onset to stiffness gradients and smoothness. By assuming no a priori stiffness distribution and considering a second-order Taylor series sensitivity analysis of phonation onset pressure with respect to stiffness, we find two general smooth stiffness distributions most strongly influence onset pressure: a smooth stiffness containing aspects of BC differences and IS gradients in the cover, which plays a role in minimizing onset pressure, and uniform increases in stiffness, which raise onset pressure and frequency. While the smooth stiffness change contains aspects qualitatively similar to layered BC distributions used in computational studies, smooth transitions in stiffness result in higher sensitivity of onset pressure than discrete layering. These two general stiffness distributions also provide a simple, low-dimensional, interpretation of how complex variations in VF stiffness affect onset pressure, enabling refined exploration of the effects of stiffness distributions on phonation onset.

Utterance-Final Voice Quality in American English and Mexican Spanish Bilinguals

We investigate utterance-final voice quality in bilinguals of English and Spanish, two languages which differ in the type of non-modal voice usually encountered at ends of utterances: American English often has phrase-final creak, whereas in Mexican Spanish, phrase-final voiced sounds are breathy or even devoiced. Twenty-one bilinguals from the San Diego-Tijuana border region were recorded (with electroglottography and audio) reading passages in English and Spanish. Ends of utterances were coded for their visual voice quality as “modal” (having no aspiration noise or voicing irregularity), “breathy” (having aspiration noise), “creaky” (having voicing irregularity), or “breathy-creaky” (having both aspiration noise and voicing irregularity). In utterance-final position, speakers showed more frequent use of both modal and creaky voice when speaking in English, and more frequent use of breathy and breathy-creaky voice when speaking in Spanish. We find no role of language dominance on the rates of these four voice qualities. The electroglottographic and acoustic analyses show that all voice qualities, even utterance-final creak, are produced with increased glottal spreading; the combination of distinct noise measures and amplitude of voicing can distinguish breathy, creaky, and breathy-creaky voice qualities from one another, and from modal voice.

Voiced aspirates with mixed voicing in Yemba, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon

AbstractUsing electroglottography and acoustic measures, we characterize the strength and quality of voicing in voiced aspirated and unaspirated consonants (stops, fricatives, and approximants) in Yemba (Grassfields Bantu, Cameroon). We show that the Yemba voiced aspirates exhibit mixed voicing: modal voicing during the consonant constriction, but voiceless aspiration after release. Breathy or whispery phonation extends slightly into consonant constrictions preceding, and across the entire duration of vowels following, aspiration; this non-modal phonation extends further into prenasalized consonants. Mixed voicing has typically been excluded from the possible range of laryngeal–supralaryngeal coordinative patterns in consonants, and is thought to be unattested in the world’s languages; most previous work on this topic assumes that non-modal phonation after voiced consonant release is breathy-voiced. However, we argue that Yemba voiced aspirates differ from more commonly studied breathy-release aspirates only in the settings of some gestural parameters: the late glottal spread gesture is larger in magnitude and more resistant to coarticulation, yielding consistently devoiced aspiration which may even be more perceptually recoverable compared to breathiness.

Acoustic correlates of perceived personality from Korean utterances in a formal communicative setting.

The aim of the present study was to find acoustic correlates of perceived personality from the speech produced in a formal communicative setting-that of Korean customer service employees in particular. This work extended previous research on voice personality impressions to a different sociocultural and linguistic context in which speakers are expected to speak politely in a formal register. To use naturally produced speech rather than read speech, we devised a new method that successfully elicited spontaneous speech from speakers who were role-playing as customer service employees, while controlling for the words and sentence structures they used. We then examined a wide range of acoustic properties in the utterances, including voice quality and global acoustic and segmental properties using Principal Component Analysis. Subjects of the personality rating task listened to the utterances and rated perceived personality in terms of the Big-Five personality traits. While replicating some previous findings, we discovered several acoustic variables that exclusively accounted for the personality judgments of female speakers; a more modal voice quality increased perceived conscientiousness and neuroticism, and less dispersed formants reflecting a larger body size increased the perceived levels of extraversion and openness. These biases in personality perception likely reflect gender and occupation-related stereotypes that exist in South Korea. Our findings can also serve as a basis for developing and evaluating synthetic speech for Voice Assistant applications in future studies.

Word-level prosodic and metrical influences on Hawaiian glottal stop realization.

Previous research on the phonetic realization of Hawaiian glottal stops has shown that it can be produced several ways, including with creaky voice, full closure, or modal voice. This study investigates whether the realization is conditioned by word-level prosodic or metrical factors, which would be consistent with research demonstrating that segmental distribution and phonetic realization can be sensitive to word-internal structure. At the same time, it has also been shown that prosodic prominence, such as syllable stress, can affect phonetic realization. Data come from the 1970s-80s radio program Ka Leo Hawai'i. Using Parker Jones' (Parker Jones, Oiwi. 2010. A computational phonology and morphology of Hawaiian. University of Oxford DPhil. thesis) computational prosodic grammar, words were parsed and glottal stops were automatically coded for word position, syllable stress, and prosodic word position. The frequency of the word containing the glottal stop was also calculated. Results show that full glottal closures are more likely at the beginning of a prosodic word, especially in word-medial position. Glottal stops with full closure in lexical word initial position are more likely in lower frequency words. The findings for Hawaiian glottal stop suggest that prosodic prominence does not condition a stronger realization, but rather, the role of the prosodic word is similar to other languages exhibiting phonetic cues to word-level prosodic structure.

Alanis Morissette’s Voices

Combining the slick production of post-grunge rock with raw, feminist lyrics reminiscent of Riot Grrrl punk, Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album Jagged Little Pill introduced a new rock femininity that rippled throughout the late 1990s. As several commentators have discussed, though, Morissette’s pop-critical reception as the quintessential “angry white female” overlooks the broad range of social and emotional content presented throughout the album. This expressive range comes not only from Morissette’s lyrics but also—perhaps especially—from her versatile and idiosyncratic vocal delivery. In this article, I take a detailed look at how Morissette uses her voice across Jagged Little Pill to express aspects of her album persona. I begin by identifying Morissette’s primary palette of six vocal styles, which I term “speech-song,” “modal voice,” “belt,” “soft voice,” “sweet voice,” and “squeal.” Each of these styles has its own mode of delivery, which I demonstrate through a set of binary parameters, and its own timbral profile, which I demonstrate using spectral analysis. I show how Morissette strategically deploys her vocal palette throughout the album for expressive effect, synchronizing with not only her songs’ lyrics but also their form. In so doing, my analysis shows how voice can serve a fundamentally structural role, one at least as powerful as harmony or melody in shaping a song’s formal process.

Phonetic and phonological cues to prediction: Neurophysiology of Danish stød

A corpus study and a combined behavioural and neurophysiological study tested how phonetic and phonological features of the Danish creaky voice feature ‘stød’ influence predictive processing. Being associated with certain word endings, stød and its modal voice counterpart non-stød can cue upcoming speech. Stød has two phases. The first shows phonetic differences in pitch while the second, characterised by creaky voice, has been interpreted as the phonological stød proper. Participants listened to nouns cross-spliced between the two stød phases and between stem and a following singular or plural suffix. Suffixes invalidly cued by phonological stød or non-stød showed longer response times and N400 and P600 effects, the former suggesting that stød/non-stød are becoming grammaticalized as singular and plural morphemes. Even subtle phonetic differences preceding stød proper increased response times, but N400 and P600 amplitudes were not significantly increased. Results suggest predictive use of both phonetic and phonological features, but that phonological stød cues override phonetic cues. The corpus study indicated that word beginnings with stød are less frequent and have fewer possible continuations than non-stød. Stød yielded increased negativity 280–430 ms after stød proper onset, which might be interpreted as a pre-activation negativity for the more predictively useful cue.

Phonation-induced Upper Esophageal Sphincter Contraction Caused by Different Phonation Types

The upper esophageal sphincter (UES) has been reported to show activity during phonation. As it is still unknown whether the phonation-induced UES contraction represents a reflex or a simultaneous activation phenomenon, i.e. co-innervation, this study aims to investigate and characterize the phonation-induced contraction of the UES in healthy individuals by analyzing the influence of various phonation tasks on pressure parameters of the UES. Twenty-five healthy volunteers produced the German neutral vowel [ə] in five different phonation tasks (modal voice, whispering, voiceless speech, creaky voice, and whispery voice). Simultaneously, they underwent high resolution manometry and electroglottography for measurement of pressure parameters in the region of the UES and latencies between larynx and UES activation. During all types of phonation, the maximum pressures of the UES increased significantly (maximum pressure increases of 72%-132%). With regard to mean pressures this was valid for modal voice and whispering (mean pressure increases of 20%-25%). Differences concerning total pressure changes reached statistical significance when comparing whispering and voiceless speech as well as whispery voice. However, differences concerning the total pressure change between modal voices on the one hand and voiceless speech and whispery voice on the other hand turned out to be small. The averaged time delay between larynx and UES activation ranged from approximately -15 ms (whispery voice) to +15 ms (whispering). A phonation induced pressure increase of the UES was confirmed in this study and did exist for different types of phonation. The extent of total pressure changes in the UES increases in relation with laryngeal muscle activity necessary for the phonation type. Next to varying effects of different types of phonation on UES activation, very short latencies indicate that a phonation induced contraction of the UES exists most likely due to co-innervation of UES and laryngeal muscles by the vagus nerve.

Phonation in verbal tics and true words is distinguishable on the basis of voice quality

Adults with Tourette syndrome produce vocal tics that mimic true words and phrases. These verbal tics often occur while the ticcer is actively engaged in speaking. By virtue of their isomorphism with true words, co-speech verbal tics can introduce unintended meanings into a talker's utterances. How does the ticcer-talker compensate for the presence of intrusive verbal tics that threaten to confuse their interlocutor? In the present study, the acoustics of phonation in naturalistic co-speech ticcing by four adult speakers of English was examined. Six acoustic parameters previously identified as indices of the distinction between falsetto and modal voice were extracted from ticced and spoken stressed vowel and whole-word intervals. For all participants, at least three out of the six markers of falsetto were observed in verbal tics and were absent in true words. Furthermore, transitions into and out of falsetto were concomitant with transitions across speech-tic and tic-speech junctures, respectively. These results suggest that phonation tasks for verbal tics are aimed at achieving falsetto mode of laryngeal vibration, in contrast to phonation in spoken English, which is largely modal. Findings are interpreted in terms of a discourse-level task that organizes ticced and spoken vocalizations in the service of clear communication.

Phonation Types Matter in Sound Symbolism.

Sound symbolism is a non‐arbitrary correspondence between sound and meaning. The majority of studies on sound symbolism have focused on consonants and vowels, and the sound‐symbolic properties of suprasegmentals, particularly phonation types, have been largely neglected. This study examines the size and shape symbolism of four phonation types: modal and creaky voices, falsetto, and whisper. Japanese speakers heard 12 novel words (e.g., /íbi/, /ápa/) pronounced with the four types of phonation and rated the size and roundedness/pointedness each of the 48 stimuli seemed to represent on seven‐point scales. The results showed that phonation types as well as consonantal and vocalic features influenced the ratings. Creaky voice was associated with larger and more pointed images than modal voice, which was in turn associated with larger and more pointed images than whisper. Falsetto was also associated with roundedness but not with smallness. These results shed new light on the acoustic approaches to sound symbolism and suggest the significance of phonation types and other suprasegmental features in the phenomenon.

Electroglottographic Analysis of the Voice in Young Male Role of Kunqu Opera

The phonation types used in the young male role in Kunqu Opera were investigated. Two national young male role singers volunteered as the subjects. Each singer performed three voice conditions: singing, stage speech, and reading lyrics. Three electroglottogram parameters, the fundamental frequency, contact quotient, and speed quotient, were analyzed. Electroglottogram parameters were different between voice conditions. Five phonation types were found by clustering analysis in singing and stage speech: (1) breathy voice, (2) high adduction modal voice, (3) modal voice, (4) untrained falsetto, and (5) high adduction falsetto. The proportion of each phonation type was not identical in singing and stage speech. The relationship between phonation type and pitch was multiple to one in the low pitch range, and one to one in the high pitch range. The sound pressure levels were related to the phonation types. Five phonation types, instead of only the two phonation types (modal voice and falsetto) that are identified in traditional Kunqu Opera singing theory, were concomitantly used in the young male role’s artistic voices. These phonation types were more similar to those of the young female roles than to those of the other male roles in the Kunqu Opera.

The tone system of Ruc and tonogenesis in Vietic languages

Rục, a dialect of the ethnic group of Chứt spoken in the mountainous area in Quảng Bình province, has been describing as a tonal language with four tones characterized by pitch (F0), voice quality and laryngeal features; however, there has been no experimental study on the tone system of Rục. In Summer 2019, we recorded 20 Ruc speakers (10 women) reading a wordlist including 66 words made of five vowels /iː, ɛː, uː, ɔː, aː/ in combination with different dental and velar onsets and the four tones. The results show that the four tones in Rục are differentiated by pitch height and pitch contour. Moreover, spectral measurements (H1-H2, H1-A1, H1-A2 and CPP) indicate that two low-register tones (derived from voiced onsets) have a breathy voice compared to a modal voice in two high-register tones (derived from voiceless onsets). In words with the two low-register tones, vowels tend to be pronounced with a higher aperture (a lower F1) than in high-register tones context. These results support and update theories on tonongenesis and registrogenesis in Vietic languages and Mon-Khmer languages in general.

Predominant Vertical Location of Benign Vocal Fold Lesions by Sex and Music Genre: Implication for Pathogenesis.

Vertical locations of vocal fold mucosal lesions (VFMLs) vary along the free edge. As the vertical contact area of vocal folds (VFs) depends on the vocal register, lesions may occur in the contact area of more frequently used vocal registers. This study investigated the cause of location variations by comparing the vertical sites of VFMLs in singers of both sexes with different music genres. Retrospective review. Sixty professional classical and rock singers (11 male classical [M-classical], 22 male rock [M-rock], 13 female classical [F-classical], and 14 female rock [F-rock] singers) who underwent microlaryngeal surgery for VF polyps and nodules and their 108 lesions were enrolled. The VF free edge was vertically divided into three equal parts and classified into the following four lesion sites: upper, middle, lower, and multiple sites. Upper lesions were most common among F-classical singers (73.9%), whereas lower lesions were most common among M-classical (90.0%) and M-rock (60.6%) singers. Among lesions localized to a single site, lower lesions were most common among F-rock singers (37.0%). F-classical singers had significantly more upper lesions than the other groups (P <.001). M-classical singers had significantly more lower lesions than female singers of any genre (P <.001). Upper lesions were most common among F-classical singers who mostly used the head voice. Lower lesions were most common among singers who mainly used the modal voice. This study suggests that sex, the dominant vocal register used for singing, and mechanical stress on VFs influence the vertical site of VFMLs. 4 Laryngoscope, 131:E2284-E2291, 2021.

Stylistic variation of prosodic patterns of a linguistic persona

This paper aims to study phonostylistic variation of prosodic characteristics of a linguistic persona. The new aspect brought to the field is the focus not only on pitch and speech rate but also on voice quality prosodic aspects of a linguistic persona. The subject was a world-famous British linguist David Crystal whose recordings of lecture and interview were used as the material for this study. The data suggest wide variability of practically every prosodic feature. Among them, pitch minimum, pitch range, loudness median and shimmer values proved to be most constant features of the linguistic persona. The other prosodic values underwent changes due to the shift from the modal voice in the interview to a more arduous voice in the lecture thus reflecting different pragmatics goals of commuication. Prosodic variation range of the linguistic persona in question turned out wider than the average one.

Hyperactive sensorimotor cortex during voice perception in spasmodic dysphonia

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is characterized by an involuntary laryngeal muscle spasm during vocalization. Previous studies measured brain activation during voice production and suggested that SD arises from abnormal sensorimotor integration involving the sensorimotor cortex. However, it remains unclear whether this abnormal sensorimotor activation merely reflects neural activation produced by abnormal vocalization. To identify the specific neural correlates of SD, we used a sound discrimination task without overt vocalization to compare neural activation between 11 patients with SD and healthy participants. Participants underwent functional MRI during a two-alternative judgment task for auditory stimuli, which could be modal or falsetto voice. Since vocalization in falsetto is intact in SD, we predicted that neural activation during speech perception would differ between the two groups only for modal voice and not for falsetto voice. Group-by-stimulus interaction was observed in the left sensorimotor cortex and thalamus, suggesting that voice perception activates different neural systems between the two groups. Moreover, the sensorimotor signals positively correlated with disease severity of SD, and classified the two groups with 73% accuracy in linear discriminant analysis. Thus, the sensorimotor cortex and thalamus play a central role in SD pathophysiology and sensorimotor signals can be a new biomarker for SD diagnosis.

Vocal Fold Collision Speed in vivo: The Effect of Loudness

Mechanical impact stress on the vocal fold surface, particularly when excessive, has been postulated to cause the so-called phonotraumatic tissue lesions, such as nodules and polyps. The collision stress between the vocal folds depends on the vocal fold velocity at the time of impact. Hence this vocal fold collision speed is a relevant parameter when considering biomechanical economy of phonation, especially in voice professionals needing a louder voice than normal. Combining a precise photometric measurement of glottal area and simultaneous measurements of translaryngeal impedance (electroglottogram) for identifying the time of the maximum rate of increase of vocal fold contact allows computing the vocal fold collision speed in a wide range of loudnesses. The vocal fold collision speed is - for modal voicing - always smaller than the maximum vocal fold velocity during the closing phase, but it strongly increases with intensity. Moreover, this increase shows a biphasic pattern, with a significant enhancement from a certain value of dB on. Understanding physiological variables that influence vocal fold collision forces provides relevant insight into the pathophysiology and the prevention of voice disorders associated with phonotraumatic vocal hyperfunction.

An exploratory descriptive study of accent shift in Northern East Cree

Northern East Cree has several /+h/ morphemes, which, when suffixed onto a word, add meanings such as inanimate plurality or animate obviation. Literature on these morphemes has yet to describe the impressionistic accent shift that accompanies /+h/ suffixation onto a word. In this article findings are presented from an exploratory descriptive study in which citation forms with and without the /+h/ morphemes are compared, examining how accent shift is acoustically realized, as well as the relevance of pitch slope and modal voicing. The results do not align with previous analyses of the /+h/ morphemes’ properties. Rather, it is possible that words without /+h/ have a falling tone pattern, whereas words with /+h/ have a level tone pattern, suggesting that pitch slope, in combination with modal voice, may be the best diagnostic of the presence of /+h/ morphemes.