Phonation Types Research Articles

Temporal and spectral characteristics of the intervocalic consonant clusters in Korean

Park(2008) showed that there is no significant difference in specific segment duration and their temporal structure between VCC[Asp]V and VC[Asp]V, and between VCC[For]V, VCC[Len]V, and VC[For]V, where V stands for vowel, C for consonant, [Asp] for aspirated, [For] for fortis, and [Len] for lenis. He also showed that there is no significant difference in consonant duration between a singleton and a geminate when the following C is [For] or [Asp], but a significant difference between them when the following C is [Len]. On the other hand, Park(2005) showed that there is a significant difference in phonation type index k (PTI k) across consonant types, where PTI k presents a single and simplified measure of the spectral tilt, which is free from the effects of fundamental frequency and vowel quality. This study, by applying Park(2008)’s and Park(2005)’s methods, investigates temporal and spectral characteristics of the consonant clusters of the other manners and places of articulation. The results showed that temporal characteristics present a similar pattern to those of Park(2008), and that spectral characteristics are associated with the phonation identity of the final consonant of the intervocalic consonant clusters.

Effects of Volume, Pitch, and Phonation Type on Oscillation Initiation and Termination Phases Investigated With High-speed Videoendoscopy

This study aimed to investigate the effects of varying volume, pitch, and phonation types on the initiation and termination phases of vocal fold oscillation using high-speed digital videoendoscopy. Specifically, it addressed the effects of the variation of volume, pitch, and phonation type (normal, pressed, and breathy) on the transient duration of the vibrating glottal length (length transient duration, Tlen), the transient duration of the glottal area waveform (area transient duration, Tarea), the time offset between the beginning (or the end) of the full-length vibration and the full-amplitude vibration, TΔ, and the variation of the fundamental frequency during the vocal fold oscillation initiation and termination segments (pitch instability, %PI). A female subject with no voice problem produced voices with varying pitch and loudness, including comfortable pitch and comfortable loudness, normal pitch loud, high pitch and comfortable loudness, and high pitch and loud. Breathy and pressed phonations were also recorded. Each of the six phonation types was recorded six times, which resulted in 72 transient segments (each recording included both initiation and termination phases). Mixed model statistical analyses were employed to the five objective high-speed digital videoendoscopy parameters. Preliminary findings demonstrated significant findings for voice type effects for the length and area transient durations for the oscillation initiation segment but not for the oscillation termination segment. This study demonstrates that voice types appear to influence vibration initiation patterns more than the vibration termination patterns.

Tone and registrogenesis in Quiaviní Zapotec

Tone and phonation type are known to show complex interactions. I argue that breathy vowels in one Central Zapotec variety, San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec (Otomanguean, Mexico), has resulted from an original tonal contrast between the low and rising tones (registrogenesis), based both on language-internal and comparative evidence with other closely-related Central Zapotec varieties. The case of Central Zapotec is unusual in that the direction of the sound change is from a tonal contrast to a phonation contrast, while in other known cases the direction is usually the opposite.

Manipulation of the prosodic features of vocal tract length, nasality and articulatory precision using articulatory synthesis

Vocal emotions, as well as different speaking styles and speaker traits, are characterized by a complex interplay of multiple prosodic features. Natural sounding speech synthesis with the ability to control such paralinguistic aspects requires the manipulation of the corresponding prosodic features. With traditional concatenative speech synthesis it is easy to manipulate the “primary” prosodic features pitch, duration, and intensity, but it is very hard to individually control “secondary” prosodic features like phonation type, vocal tract length, articulatory precision and nasality. These secondary features can be controlled more directly with parametric synthesis methods. In the present study we analyze the ability of articulatory speech synthesis to control secondary prosodic features by rule. To this end, nine German words were re-synthesized with the software VocalTractLab 2.1 and then manipulated in different ways at the articulatory level to vary vocal tract length, articulatory precision and degree of nasality. Listening tests showed that most of the intended prosodic manipulations could be reliably identified with recognition rates between 77% and 96%. Only the manipulations to increase articulatory precision were hardly recognized. The results suggest that rule-based manipulations in articulatory synthesis are generally sufficient for the convincing synthesis of secondary prosodic features at the word level.

Interaction of pitch and phonation in Louma Oeshi

Louma Oeshi is an Akoid (Tibeto-Burman) language of Laos for which acoustic characteristics are undocumented with the exception of preliminary work by the present authors. This study focuses on the phonetic properties associated with Oeshi's three tones (high, mid, and low) and two registers (Tense, Lax), which fully intersect to yield a six-way suprasegmental contrast. Eight speakers were recorded in Phongsali Province, Lao PDR. Each spoke a 100 token word list, for which 30 tokens were repeated in a carrier sentence placing the token between high and mid-toned lax words. Decile measures of F0 and an array of measures reflecting phonation types (H1-H2, H1-A1, H1-A3, HNR, and SHR) were performed in Voicesauce (Shue et al. 2011) to capture dynamic values over the syllable duration. Our findings show a reliable three-way F0 contrast between tones and a single interaction with register such that High Tense words consistently fall (tones are otherwise level). Acoustic correlates of the Tense~Lax distinction a...

Tone and Phonation in Southeast Asian Languages

AbstractSoutheast Asia is often considered a quintessentialSprachbundwhere languages from five different language phyla have been converging typologically for millennia. One of the common features shared by many languages of the area is tone: several major national languages of the region have large tone inventories and complex tone contours. In this paper, we suggest a more fine‐grained view. We show that in addition to a large number of atonal languages, the tone languages of the region are actually far more diverse than usually assumed, and employ phonation type contrasts at least as often as pitch. Along the same lines, we argue that concepts such astoneandregister, while descriptively useful, can obscure important underlying similarities and impede our understanding of the behavior of phonetic properties, typological regularities, and diachrony. We finally draw the reader's attention to some issues of current interest in the study of tone and phonation in Southeast Asia and describe some technical developments that are likely to allow researchers to address new lines of research in years to come.

The physiological underpinnings of vowel height and voice quality

This study examines the distribution of creaky voice across vowel heights and discusses the physiological mechanisms that may influence this distribution and its methodological implications. The data for this study come from eight dyads from the ATAROS Corpus of audio-recorded conversations between Pacific Northwest English speakers (Freeman 2015). Stressed vowels in content words were tagged for phonation type based on auditory judgments. A chi square test of independence (α = 0.01) found a significant relationship between vowel height and creak (χ2(1, N = 2459) = 83.58, p < 0.001), such that low vowels were more likely to be creaky than high vowels. This effect may be due to the same physiological mechanisms as Intrinsic Fundamental Frequency (IF0). Though the exact mechanism behind IF0 is unclear, various hypotheses have suggested that the tongue position required for high vowels pulls on the larynx, increasing tension, decreasing mass, and resulting in a higher F0 (Ladefoged 1964, Lehiste 1970). These...

Nuosu Yi

The Nuosu (Nosu) Yi language, or Northern Yi (北部彝语), is spoken by approximately two million people in southern Sichuan Province and northern Yunnan Province, China, the majority of whom are monolingual. Yi is a member of the Yi Branch of the Lolo-Burmese subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman family (Benedict 1972/2009, Bradley 1979), which includes some 50 languages, also called the Nisoic languages (Lama 2012) or Ngwi Group. The large (5 million) ethnic Yi nationality groups of Yunnan Province are distantly related. The third author, Lama Ziwo, who was 31 at the time of recording, produced, translated and transcribed the recorded audio data phonemically and participated in the laryngoscopic filming of the video data. He is a native speaker of the Suondip/Suondi dialect, and a fluent speaker of the Shypnra/Shengza dialect. It is the Shypnra/Shengza standard dialect that is being represented in this paper. The most distinguishing phonetic feature of Northern Yi is its systematic vocal register contrast (Matisoff 1972, Dai 1990) between two settings of the laryngeal constrictor mechanism, which are referred to as a lax (unconstricted) series and a tense (constricted) series (Edmondson et al. 2000, 2001). The contrast is realized as a distinction in resonance (spectral quality) rather than as contrasting phonation types as in some other forms of Yi or in other Tibeto-Burman languages (e.g. Bai). The consonantal inventory is large, with complex vocalic interactions, including interactions with two pairs of fricativized vowels. Northern Yi has 43 initial consonants, five pairs of vowels (or syllable rhymes), and three tones: 55, 33, and 21. Relevant reports on voice quality in related languages can be found in Maddieson &amp; Ladefoged (1985) and Sun &amp; Liu (1986).

Dynamics of phonatory posturing at phonation onset.

In speech and singing, the intrinsic laryngeal muscles set the prephonatory posture prior to the onset of phonation. The timing and shape of the prephonatory glottal posture can directly affect the resulting phonation type. We investigated the dynamics of human laryngeal phonatory posturing. Onset of vocal fold adduction to phonation was observed in 27 normal subjects using high-speed video recording. Subjects were asked to utter a variety of phonation types (modal, breathy, pressed, /i/ following sniff). Digital videokymography with concurrent acoustic signal was analyzed to assess the timing of the following: onset of adduction to final phonatory posture (FPT), phonation onset time (POT), and phonatory posture time (PPT). Final phonatory posture time was determined as the moment at which the laryngeal configuration used in phonation was first achieved. Thirty-three audiovisual recordings met inclusion criteria. Average FPT, PPT, and POT were as follows: 303, 106, and 409 ms for modal; 430, 104, and 534 ms for breathy; 483, 213, and 696 ms for pressed; and 278, 98, and 376 ms for sniff-/i/. The following posturing features were observed: 1) pressed phonation: increased speed of closure just prior to final posture, complete glottal closure, and increased supraglottic hyperactivity; and 2) breathy phonation: decreased speed of closure prior to final posture, increased posterior glottal gap, and increased midmembranous gap. Phonation onset latency was shortest for modal and longest for pressed voice. These findings are likely explained by glottal resistance and subglottal pressure requirements. NA. Laryngoscope, 126:1837-1843, 2016.

Voice Register in Mon: Acoustics and Electroglottography

Mon is spoken in villages in Thailand and Myanmar. The dialect of Ban Nakhonchum, Thailand, has 2 voice registers, modal and breathy; these phonation types, along with other phonetic properties, distinguish minimal pairs. Four native speakers of this dialect recorded repetitions of 14 randomized words (7 minimal pairs) for acoustic analysis. We used a subset of these pairs in a listening test to verify the perceptual robustness of the register distinction. Acoustic analysis found significant differences in noise component, spectral slope and fundamental frequency. In a subsequent session 4 speakers were also recorded using electroglottography, which showed systematic differences in the contact quotient. The salience of these properties in maintaining the register distinction is discussed in the context of possible tonogenesis for this language.

Characterization of laryngealization as irregular vocal fold vibration and interaction with prosodic prominence

This paper introduces an original variant of recurrence analysis to quantify the degree of regularity of vocal fold vibration as captured by electroglottography during phonation. The proposed technique is applied to the analysis of laryngealized phonation as this phonation type typically shows irregular vibration cycles. The reliability of this approach is validated with synthetic vocal fold vibration signals, demonstrating that it permits measuring the regularity of vocal fold vibration, unaffected by changes in fundamental frequency. The method is also applied to real electroglottographic signals recorded at the onset of vowel-initial nonsense words produced in a speeded repetition task by five female German speakers. Results show that the degree of laryngealization during the production of word-initial vowels is modulated by the presence of stress (with stressed vowels being less laryngealized). Due to its robustness to changes of F0, the proposed technique proves to be a suitable tool for studying vocal fold regularity in concatenated speech. Its applications are not limited to the study of glottalization, since the degree of regularity of vocal fold vibration has paralinguistic functions and is a clinically relevant measure of voice pathologies.

Reliable acoustic measurements in children between 5;0 and 9;11 years: Gender, age, height and weight effects on fundamental frequency, jitter and shimmer in phonations without and with controlled voice SPL

BackgroundCurrent pediatric voice assessment guidelines include instrumental measurements of fundamental frequency (F0) and the perturbation indices jitter and shimmer. In children below 10 years, gender, age, height and weight effects on these parameters have been inconsistently characterized. Recent research in healthy children showed, that differences in habitual speaking voice intensity (voice SPL) under the usual assessment procedure significantly affect jitter and shimmer. These effects were reduced in phonations with controlled voice SPL >80dBA. Reliable measurement methods and description of physiologic influencing factors are essential to identify pathologic voices. ObjectiveThis cross-sectional single cohort study investigates in children between 5;0 and 9;11 years how gender, age, height and weight affect voice F0, jitter and shimmer in phonations at individually “medium” voice intensity (modeling the usual clinical practice) and with controlled voice SPL >80dBA. Subjects and methods68 vocally healthy children (39 f/29 m) aged 5;0–9;11 years provided 3 prolonged phonations of/a/at individually “medium” and controlled voice intensity at “>80dBA” (visual feedback, 10cm distance). F0 (Hz), jitter (%), shimmer (%) and voice SPL (dBA) were determined with PRAAT. Gender, age, height and weight effects without and with controlled voice SPL were assessed by descriptive statistics, Analysis of Variance and Linear Mixed Models. ResultsF0 (Hz), jitter (%), shimmer (%) and voice SPL (dBA) were significantly different in medium voice compared to >80dBA (p<0.01). In medium phonations girls had a higher F0 than boys (girls: 276.7(50.7), boys: 261.5(33.7)), but with >80dBA this difference was only minimal (girls: 328.9(52.2), boys 327.9(51.2)). Mean jitter (0.27(0.10)) and shimmer (4.34(1.68)) were smaller and showed less spread (jitter: 0.5(0.26); shimmer: 9.47(3.47)) with >80dBA. Gender, age, height and weight had no significant effects on F0, jitter, shimmer and voice SPL in both phonation types (p-range=0.42–0.99). ConclusionsNeither without nor with controlled voice SPL there were systematic gender, age, height or weight effects on voice F0, jitter and shimmer. Gender related F0 discrepancies were equalized in phonations with >80dBA. In children below 10 years gender related acoustic voice differences may be mainly linked to behavior, which should be considered in future works regarding physiologic voice development.

한국어 음운인식에서의 조음거리와 긴장성 자질의 특성 연구: 영·유아를 중심으로

This study tried to investigate the differences between auditory preferences for a discrimination study of minimal pairs with the different onset and the same nucleus of a syllable on the basis of articulator-distance in case of Korean infants and toddlers. As a result we found a main effect for articulator-distance and age but not an effect according to the types of phonation especially in terms of tense. Former results are line with the previous studies having reported the order of consonants acquisition based on the places of articulation suggesting that more sensitive responses for the contiguous and different phonemes may lead earlier acquisition for the same place of articulation of the speech sounds. Specifically, bilabial soudns are followed by alveolar and palatal sounds in order. The latter results also showed that tense consonants got a high rate of recognition beside lax consonants according to the age and sex.

기능적 조음장애아동과 일반아동의 어중자음 연쇄조건에서 나타나는 어중종성 오류 특성 비교

This study investigated final consonant error characteristics at word-medial position in children with functional articulation disorder. Data was collected from 11 children with functional articulation and 11 normal children, ages 4 to 5. The speech samples were collected from a naming test. Seventy-five words with every possible bi-consonants matrix at the word-medial position were used. The results of this study were as follows : First, percentage of correct word-medial final consonants of functional articulation disorder was lower than normal children. Second, there were significant differences between two groups in omission, substitution and assimilation error. Children with functional articulation disorder showed a high frequency of omission and regressive assimilation error, especially alveolarization in regressive assimilation error most. However, normal children showed a high frequency of regressive assimilation error, especially bilabialization in regressive assimilation error most. Finally, the results of error analysis according to articulation manner, articulation place and phonation type of consonants of initial consonant at word-medial, both functional articulation disorder and normal children showed a high error rate in stop sound-stop sound condition. The error rate of final consonant at word-medial position was high when initial consonant at word-medial position was alveolar sound and alveopalatal sound. Futhermore, when initial sounds were fortis and aspirated sounds, more errors occurred than linis sound was initial sound. The results of this study provided practical error characteristics of final consonant at word-medial position in children with speech sound disorder.

Phonetic Variation and Interactional Contingencies in Simultaneous Responses

An auspicious but unexplored environment for studying phonetic variation in naturalistic interaction is where two or more participants say the same thing at the same time. Working with a core dataset built from the multimodal Augmented Multi-party Interaction corpus, the principles of conversation analysis were followed to analyze the sequential organization of the talk and to explain the phonetic variation observed. Acoustic divergence and equivalence between simultaneous responses are described. Phonetic features discussed include duration and timing, pitch, loudness, and phonation type. The interactional factors that explain the acoustic divergences are established through turn-by-turn analysis and consideration of gaze direction and other visible features. It is argued that any research on phonetic variation in naturalistic talk that disregards the local organization of interaction will always be incomplete.

Flow Glottogram Characteristics and Perceived Degree of Phonatory Pressedness

Phonatory pressedness is a clinically relevant aspect of voice, which generally is analyzed by auditory perception. The present investigation aimed at identifying voice source and formant characteristics related to experts' ratings of phonatory pressedness. Experimental study of the relations between visual analog scale ratings of phonatory pressedness and voice source parameters in healthy voices. Audio, electroglottogram, and subglottal pressure, estimated from oral pressure during /p/ occlusion, were recorded from five female and six male subjects, each of whom deliberately varied phonation type between neutral, flow, and pressed in the syllable /pae/, produced at three loudness levels and three pitches. Speech-language pathologists rated, along a visual analog scale, the degree of perceived phonatory pressedness in these samples. The samples were analyzed by means of inverse filtering with regard to closed quotient, dominance of the voice source fundamental, normalized amplitude quotient, peak-to-peak flow amplitude, as well as formant frequencies and the alpha ratio of spectrum energy above and below 1000Hz. The results were compared with the rating data, which showed that the ratings were closely related to voice source parameters. Approximately, 70% of the variance of the ratings could be explained by the voice source parameters. A multiple linear regression analysis suggested that perceived phonatory pressedness is related most closely to subglottal pressure, closed quotient, and the two lowest formants.

Relationship of Various Open Quotients With Acoustic Property, Phonation Types, Fundamental Frequency, and Intensity

In the present study, we examined the relationship between various open quotients (Oqs) and phonation types, fundamental frequency (F0), and intensity by multivariate linear regression analysis (MVA) to determine which Oq best reflects vocal fold vibratory characteristics. Using high-speed digital imaging (HSDI), a sustained vowel /e/ at different phonation types, F0s, and intensities was recorded from six vocally healthy male volunteers: the types of phonation included modal, falsetto, modal breathy, and modal pressed phonations; and each phonation was performed at different F0s and intensities. Electroglottography (EGG) and sound signals were simultaneously recorded with HSDI. From the obtained data, 10 conventional Oqs (four Oqs from the glottal area function, four kymographic Oqs, and two EGG-derived Oqs) and two newly introduced Oqs (Oq(edge)+ and Oq(edge)) were evaluated. And, relationships between various Oqs and phonation types, F0, and intensity were evaluated by MVA. Among the various Oqs, Oq(edge)+ and Oq(edge) revealed the strongest correlations with an acoustic property and could best describe changes in phonation types: Oq(edge) was found to be better than Oq(edge)¯. Oq(MLK), the average of five Oqs from five-line multiline kymography was a very good alternative to Oq(edge)¯. EGG-derived Oqs were able to differentiate between modal phonation and falsetto phonation, but it was necessary to consider the change of F0 simultaneously. MVA showed the changes in Oq values between modal and other phonation types, the degree of involvement of intensity, and no relationship between F0 and Oqs. Among Oqs evaluated in this study, Oq(edge)+ and Oq(edge) were considered to best reflect the vocal fold vibratory characteristics.

Glottal Adduction and Subglottal Pressure in Singing

Previous research suggests that independent variation of vocal loudness and glottal configuration (type and degree of vocal fold adduction) does not occur in untrained speech production. This study investigated whether these factors can be varied independently in trained singing and how subglottal pressure is related to average glottal airflow, voice source properties, and sound level under these conditions. A classically trained baritone produced sustained phonations on the endoscopic vowel [i:] at pitch D4 (approximately 294 Hz), exclusively varying either (a) vocal register; (b) phonation type (from "breathy" to "pressed" via cartilaginous adduction); or (c) vocal loudness, while keeping the others constant. Phonation was documented by simultaneous recording of videokymographic, electroglottographic, airflow and voice source data, and by percutaneous measurement of relative subglottal pressure. Register shifts were clearly marked in the electroglottographic wavegram display. Compared with chest register, falsetto was produced with greater pulse amplitude of the glottal flow, H1-H2, mean airflow, and with lower maximum flow declination rate (MFDR), subglottal pressure, and sound pressure. Shifts of phonation type (breathy/flow/neutral/pressed) induced comparable systematic changes. Increase of vocal loudness resulted in increased subglottal pressure, average flow, sound pressure, MFDR, glottal flow pulse amplitude, and H1-H2. When changing either vocal register or phonation type, subglottal pressure and mean airflow showed an inverse relationship, that is, variation of glottal flow resistance. The direct relation between subglottal pressure and airflow when varying only vocal loudness demonstrated independent control of vocal loudness and glottal configuration. Achieving such independent control of phonatory control parameters would be an important target in vocal pedagogy and in voice therapy.

Relationship Between Subglottal Pressure and Sound Pressure Level in Untrained Voices

Subglottal pressure (P(s)) is strongly correlated with sound pressure level (SPL) and is easy to measure by means of commonly available equipment. The SPL/Ps ratio is strongly dependent on the efficiency of the phonatory apparatus and should be of great relevance to clinical practice. However, published normative data are still missing. The subjects produced sequences of the syllable [pæ], and P(s) was measured as the oral pressure during the [p] occlusion. The P(s) to SPL relationship was determined at four pitches produced by 16 female and 15 male healthy voices and analyzed by means of regression analysis. Average correlation between P(s) and SPL, average SPL produced with a P(s) of 10 cm H(2)O, and average SPL increase produced by a doubling of P(s) were calculated for the female and for the male subjects. The significance of sex and pitch conditions was analyzed by means of analysis of variance (ANOVA). Pitch was found to be an insignificant condition. The average correlation between P(s) and SPL was 0.83 and did not differ significantly between the female and male subjects. In female and male subjects, P(s) = 10 cm H(2)O produced 78.1 dB and 80.0 dB SPL at 0.3 m, and a doubling of P(s) generated 11.1 dB and 9.3 dB increase of SPL. Both these gender differences were statistically significant. The relationship between Ps and SPL can be reliably established from series of repetitions of the syllable [pæ] produced with a continuously changing degree of vocal loudness. Male subjects produce slightly higher SPL for a given pressure than female subjects but gain less for a doubling of P(s). As these relationships appear to be affected by phonation type, it seems possible that in the future, the method can be used for documenting degree of phonatory hypofunction and hyperfunction.

Phonation type contrasts and vowel quality in Marathi

Phonation-type contrasts in consonants and vowels are typically associated with a number of acoustic differences. Phonemic breathy phonation, for instance, is fairly consistently associated with lower Cepstral Peak Prominence values than modal sounds, and with higher values for spectral measures such as H1-H2 and H1-A3. The effect of breathy phonation on vowel quality, however, is less consistent: lower first formant (F1) values have been found for breathy vowels in some languages, while others do not show consistent F1 differences based on phonation type. Furthermore, at present little work has investigated the effect of breathy voiced consonants on formant values in subsequent vowels. The current study presents data from Marathi, an Indic language with phonemically breathy-voiced obstruents and sonorants. Ten native speakers (five males and five females) produced real words that included the vowels [a] and [e] after both modal and breathy consonants. The effect of consonant phonation type on F1 and F2 values in subsequent vowels is reported in order to augment our understanding of the relationship between voice quality differences and vowel quality.