Effects on the glottal voice source of vocal loudness variation in
untrained female and male voices
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 117 (2):
879--885 (February 2005)Abstract
Subglottalpressure is one of the main voice control factors, controllingvocal
loudness. In this investigation the effects of subglottal pressurevariation
on the voice source in untrained female and malevoices phonating
at a low, a middle, and a highfundamental frequency are analyzed.
The subjects produced a series of/pae/ syllables at varied degrees
of vocal loudness, attempting tokeep pitch constant. Subglottal pressure
was estimated from the oralpressure during the /p/ occlusion. Ten
subglottal pressure values, approximatelyequidistantly spaced within
the pressure range used, were identified, andthe voice source of
the vowels following these pressure valueswas analyzed by inverse
filtering the airflow signal as capturedby a Rothenberg mask. The
maximum flow declination rate (MFDR)was found to increase linearly
with subglottal pressure, but agiven subglottal pressure produced
lower values for female than formale voices. The closed quotient
increased quickly with subglottal pressureat low pressures and slowly
at high pressures, such thatthe relationship can be approximated
by a power function. Fora given subglottal pressure value, female
voices reached lower valuesof closed quotient than male voices. ©2005
Acoustical Society ofAmerica.