• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 1997

Anatomic and physiological changes of the larynx with advancing age result in morphologic changes of the vocal fold and reduced control of the phonatory mechanism in elderly individuals and are reflected in increased unstability of fundamental frequency (Fo). The purpose of this study is to increase current understanding of acoustic and stroboscopic characteristics of normal elderly persons voices. First, phonated /a/ vowel productions by 40 normal adults (20 to 40 years, 20 men and 20 women) and 40 normal elderly persons (60 to 80 years,20 men and 20 women) were analyzed, using CSL (model 4300B) acoustic analysis software, to obtain acoustic measures related to fundamental frequency stability nd vocal resonance characteristics. Second, stroboscopic images of the vocal fold behavior in all subjects were analyzed by experienced specialists. In the men, fundamental frequency variation (vFe) (p＜0.01), jitter. (p＜0.05), and shimmer (p＜0.05) for the older group were significantly higher than the value for the adult group. In the stroboscopic findings, edema of vocal fold had a significant finding in aged men (15%). In the women, vFo (p＜0.05), jitter (p＜0.05), and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR) (p＜0.05) for the older group were significantly higher than the value for e adult group and first formant frequency (F1) (p＜0.01) and second formant frequency (F2) (p＜0.01) for. the older group were significantly lower than the value for the adult group. In the stroboscopic findings, vocal fold atrophy had a significant finding in aged women (25%). Frequency stability, as reflected by vFo, jitter, shimmer, and NHR, decreases with advancing age in men and women and spectral analysis of phonated /a/ vowel productions reveals the lowering of the frequency of F1 and second F2 with advancing age, especially in aged women. Change in the mass of vocal folds, due to atrophy or edema, is considered to be the greatest factor in these acoustic changes.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.165-169
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• 2003

The aim of the present study was to analyse grunts of the sows and to extract parameters from the time and frequency signals in nursing behavior. Five crossbred $Landrace{\times}Yorkshire$ sows were used on day 5 or 6 postpartum. The grunts and the behaviors of the five sows were recorded with five digital camcorders. Three parameter groups [Group I: Formant vector alone, Group II: Formant vector+parameters from time signal, Group III: Formant vector+parameters from time signal-parameters eliminated by stepwise discriminant analysis backward (SDAB)] with parameter vectors extracted from single grunts in the maximum grunting rate period were used for individuality of the sows. The parameter groups were compared by a discriminant function analysis. The classification system adopted in the Group II represented the higher discriniation rate than those in other groups (Group I: 63.3%, Group II: 83.0%, Group III: 80.0%). This study demonstrated that formant, intensity, and pitch were available sound parameters for individuality of the sows during nursing behavior.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.145-155
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• 2003

This study compared $F_{0}$ and the first three formants of eight Korean monophthongs produced by nine transgenders (male to female) to those of eighteen normal adults. Voice analysis was done by Praat (version 4.049). A one-way ANOVA with Tukey HSD post hoc tests were performed to determine statistical differences in $F_{0}$ and formant values obtained from transgenders, and normal male and female subjects. Results indicated that there was no significant difference in $F_{1}$ of /u/, /$\Lambda$/, and /o/, $F_{2}$ of /u/, /$\Lambda$/, and /i/ and $F_{3}$ of /u/ among the 3 groups (transgenders, normal males and normal females). However, in the comparison of transgenders vs. males, a significant difference was observed in $F_{0}$ of /o/, and $F_{2}$ of /i/, /a/, /e/, and /${\ae}$/ and $F_{3}$ of /e/. Furthermore, in the comparison of transgenders vs. females, a significant difference was also observed in $F_{0}$ of all vowels, $F_{1}$ of /i/, /$\alpha$/, /e/, /${\ae}$/, and /i/. $F_{2}$ of /i/, and /${\ae}$/, and $F_{3}$ of /i/, /$\alpha$/, /$\Lambda$/, /e/, /${\ae}$/, /i/, and /o/. Also, perceptual judgment of the transgenders' voice came out somewhat correlated strongly with their $F_{0}$ values but not much with the formant values. It was concluded that the transgenders' acoustic parameters are placed in between those of the normal males and females in. terms of fundamental and formant frequency analyses of vowels. Thus, it was assumed that those differences might stem from the transgenders' original big resonating cavities.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.526-533
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• 2009

This paper proposes a formant synthesis method of Haegeum sounds using cepstral envelope for spectral modeling. Spectral modeling synthesis (SMS) is a technique that models time-varying spectra as a combination of sinusoids (the "deterministic" part), and a time-varying filtered noise component (the "stochastic" part). SMS is appropriate for synthesizing sounds of string and wind instruments whose harmonics are evenly distributed over whole frequency band. Formants extracted from cepstral envelope are parameterized for synthesis of sinusoids. A resonator by Impulse Invariant Transform (IIT) is applied to synthesize sinusoids and the results are bandpass filtered to adjust magnitude. The noise is calculated by first generating the sinusoids with formant synthesis, subtracting them from the original sound, and then removing some harmonics remained. Linear interpolation is used to model noise. The synthesized sounds are made by summing sinusoids, which are shown to be similar to the original Haegeum sounds.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : It has been shown that the epilaryngeal tube in the human airway is responsible for vocal ring, or the singer's formant. In previous study, authors showed that in trained tenors, besides the conventional singer's formant in the region of ,5500Hz, another energy peak was observed in the region of 8,000Hz. This peak was interpreted as the second resonance of the epilarynx tube. Singers in other voice categories who produce vocal ring are assumed to have the same peak, but no measurements have as yet been made. Materials and Methods : Fifteen tenors, fourteen baritones, seven sopranos and five mezzo sopranos attending the music college, department of vocal music who could reliably produce the head and chest registers were chosen for this study. Each subject was asked to produce an/ah/sound for at least three seconds for the head register sound(tenors ; G4, barions ; E4 sopranos ; F5 and mezzosopranos ; C5) and for the chest register sound (tenors ; C3, baritones ; D3, sopranos ; D4 and Mezzosoprano ; A3). The sound data was analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)-based power spectrum, Long term average(LTA) power spectrum using the FFT algorithm of the Computerized Speech Lab (CSL, Kay elemetrics, Model 4300B, USA). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test of the Statistical Package for Social sciences(SPSS). Results : For head register sounds, a significant increase was seen in the 2,200-3,400Hz region(p<0.05) and the Similar to the head register sounds, there was a significant increase in energy in the four trained singer group compared with the untrained group in the 2,200-3,100Hz region(p<0.05), the 7,800-8,400Hz region(p<0.05) for the chest register sounds. Conclusions : When good vocal production was made for the head and chest registers, an energy peak was observed near 2,500Hz, a frequency already known as the "singer's formant', in all subjects in the study group. Another region of increased energy was observed around 8,000Hz that had not been noticed previously. The authors believe this region to be the second singer's formant.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.163-171
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• 2009

This study attempted to investigate vocal characteristics and differences in gender and voice classification among classical singers. Twenty-three female singers (M = 23.1 yrs, SD = 3.6 yrs, average 6.3 yrs singing experience, all classified as sopranos) and twenty male singers (M = 25.2 yrs, SD= 3.6 yrs, average 6. 3 yrs singing experience, 8 tenors, 12 baritones) were recruited to participate in the present study. Speaking fundamental frequency (FO), closed quotient (CQ), MPT (Maximum Phonation Time), breathing types, maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximum expiratory pressure (MEP), and singers' formants were measured. In addition, vibratory patterns were observed using stroboscopy. Sfo, singing CQ, breathing types, formant frequency in singers' formants, MIP, MEP, and MPT were significantly different from gender to gender. Generally, singers' formants were observed in male singers and also the pattern of singers' formants was different between tenors and baritones. Lower singing CQ values were observed than speaking CQ values in the female singers (P<.001). Furthermore, MEP, MIP, and singing CQ were significantly lower for female singers than for males singers (P<.001). MPT and speaking FO, however, were not significantly different between tenors and baritones.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.140-144
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• 2001

Backgrounds & Objectives : Prolonged hearing loss was considered as one of the factors which have the potential to cause vocal changes. However, the analysis of quality of phonation in hearing loss patients has not been achieved enough. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the difference in objective acoustic parameters between long-term hearing impaired patients and normal control group. Material & Methods : The material of this investigation comprised a group of 20 patients (M : F=10 : 10) with moderate or profound hearing loss(over 50dB). The duration of all hearing loss was over 1 year. All of them underwent the acoustic examinations comprising electroglottography, multidimensional voice program and formant analysis during phonation of the bowels /a/ with free confortable tone and /i/ with voluntary high tone. The results of the acoustic examinations were compared with those of a control group, composed of 20 sex- and age-matched normal hearing subjects. Results : In the male hearing loss subjects, the significant increase was detected in pitch and shimmer during phonation of /a/ and in pitch during phonation of /i/. In addition, this group was characterized by decreased fundamental frequency during phonation of /i/. In female, there was no difference between hearing loss group and normal control group except a decreased formant 1 frequency. Conclusion : Long-term moderate and profound sensorineural hearing loss could affect the objective voice parameters.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare head register with chest register of singers acoustically. Fifteen healthy tenor major students were participated. Fifteen healthy untrained adults were chosen as the control group for this study. Long term average (LTA) power spectrum using the Fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm and Linear predictive coding (LPC) filter response were made with /a/ sustained in both head (G4, 392 Hz) and chest registers (C3, 131 Hz). Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. In the LTA power spectrum, head register of singers increased in the level of energy gain within the frequency of 2.2-3.4 kHz (p<0.01), and 7.5-8.4 kHz (p<0.01, p<0.05). Chest register of singers increased in the frequency of 2.2-3.1 kHz (p<0.01), 7.8-8.4 kHz (p<0.05) and around 9.6 kHz (p<0.01). The LTA power spectrum revealed a peak of acoustic energy around 2,500 Hz, known as the singer's formant and another peak of acoustic energy around 8,000 Hz in the singer's voice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2002

The pitch range of the human voice is variable, extending from chest register to falsetto. Although numerous studies have investigated after laryngeal mechanism description of registers, systematic and objective studies were lack. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare head register with chest register of singers acoustically. Fifteen healthy tenor major students were selected. Fifteen healthy untrained adults were the control group for this study. Long term average(LTA) power spectrum using the Fast Fourier transform(FFT) algorithm and Linear predictive coding (LPC) filter response were made during /a/ sustained in both head(G4, 392Hz) md chest registers (C3, 131Hz). Statistical analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney test. In the LTA power spectrum, head register of singer has increased level(energy gain) in the frequency band of 2.2-3.4kHz(p<0.01), and 7.5-8.4kHz(p<0.01, p<0.05). Chest register of singer has increased level in the frequency band of 2.2-3.1kHz(p<0.01), 7.8-8.4kHz(p<0.05) and around 9.6kHz(p<0.01). LTA power spectrum reveals a peak of acoustic energy around 2500Hz known as the singer's formant and another peak of acoustic energy around 8000Hz in singer's voice.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2014

The goal of this study was to investigate acoustic characteristic of feed anticipating calls of heifers and cows. 6 cows and 6 heifers housed in a pen ($6.0m{\times}10.0m$) which was bedded with sawdust and straw. They were fed a standard ration of commercial concentrate and hay was ad libitum. The calls of heifers and cows were divided into Type 1 and Type 2 which were classified based on the shapes of waveform and spectrograms, respectively. There was difference in the fundamental frequency (P < 0.0001) and $1^{st}$ formant (P < 0.0077) among the calls. Acoustic parameters with the exception of fundamental frequency and $1^{st}$ formant were no difference between cows' calls and heifers' calls (P > 0.05). Duration of cows' calls was lower than that of heifers' calls, whereas the intensity of Type 1 calls was higher than that of Type 2 calls (P > 0.05).