• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.106-110
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• 2011

Western classical singing voices are different from those of pop song singer's singing voices as well as traditional Korean singing such as Pansori. We anlalysed the singing voices from three different categories with using free application programs available at the usual smart phones : sound level meter and Spectral View Analyzer and fiberoptic rhinolaryngoscopic evaluation. The intensity of voice produced by a classical western singer was 11 dB louder than that produced by a pop song singer. Source sound, glottic sound, as well as harmonic sound and singing resonant sound (Singer's formant) are much more prominent. When evaluated under video-rhinolaryngoscopy during singing, the resonance cavity especially oropharyngeal cavity and hypopharyngeal cavity are widely opened during singing of the western classical singer than those of the traditional Korean singer's singing. Difference of singing methods including producing the glottal sound, respiration and resonance are discussed. Possible explanation of development of 'Singer's Formant' is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.98-111
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of Fundamental Frequency(Hz), Closed Quotient(Qx ; %), Intensity(dB), Vocal tract length and width(cm), formant frequency(Hz), level of formant frequency(dB) depending on the larynx position. Materials and Methods : One professional male singer(career : 28 years) produced sustained vowel /a/,/e/,/i/,/o/,/u/ in two larynx position (higher, lower) with Dr. Speech and video fluoroscopy was used to quantify the vocal tract morphology. Results : In lower larynx position, CQ is increased 9.8% and Intensity is increased about 10% and level of Formant Frequency is increased. And also Vocal tract length is longer 2.4cm, Vocal tract width(Anterior width : 0.4cm, lateral width : 0.2cm) is wider than in higher larynx position. Conclusions : Singer's formant has a prominent spectrum envelope peak near 2400-2600Hz by clustering of F3, F4 and F5 near 3400Hz in lower larynx position.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.59-72
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• 2000

Vocal tract resonances are of paramount importance to voice sounds. Resonance frequencies determine vowel quality and the personal voice timber. The aim of this study was to make an effective diction program according to tuning formant frequencies by adjusting the vocal tract shape in professional voice users. Twelve male student singers and eleven female student singers participated in this study. The subjects repeated five simple vowels /a, e, i, o, u/ in normal speech and singing. The spoken vowels and sung vowels were measured by formant frequencies and the singer's formant frequencies using CSL and DSP Sona-Graph. Separately, Plot formants program was used to draw the vowel chart. The results were as follows. (1) Total formant frequencies of female singers were 11% higher than those of males singers in singing. (2) The F1 and F3 of sung vowels increased compared to F1 and F3 spoken vowels. However, The F2 of sung vowels decreased in comparison with F2 of spoken vowels. (3) Posterior vowel /u/ were moved anteriorly. This phenomenon seemed to be due to head voice singing training. (4) Singer's formant frequencies in student singers appeared according to the part: 2560 Hz for baritone, 2760 Hz for Tenor, 2821 Hz for Mezzo soprano and 3420 Hz for soprano.

• 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.

• 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.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.165-177
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• 2004

Western singers voice have been studied in music science since the early 20th century. However, Korean traditional singers voice have not yet been studied scientifically. This study is to find the physiological and acoustic characteristics of Pansori singers voices. Western singers participated for comparative purposes. Ten western singers and ten Pansori singers participated in this study. The subjects spoke and sung seven simple vowels /a, e, i, o, u, c, w/. An analysis of Glottal image was done by Scope View and acoustic characteristics of speech and singing voice were analyzed by CSL. The results are as follows: (1) Glottal gestures of Pansori singers showed asymmetric vocal folds. (2) Singing vowel formants of Pansori singers showed breathiness based on Spectrogram. (3) Music formant of western singers appeared in around 3kHz area, however, Pansori singers formant appeared in low frequency area. Modulation of vibrato showed 6 frequency per sec in case of western singers. Pansori singers showed no deep modulation of vibrato on spectrogram.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.121-127
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• 2004

This study attempted to provide a spectrum analysis for quantitative evaluation of singing voice quality of singing students rather than the presence or absence of the singer's formant. The regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship between ringing quality, SPR, and SPP of singing voice of college student subjects majoring in music. This study measured singing. power ratio (SPR) in 41 singing students. Digital audio recordings were made in sung vowels for acoustic analyses. Each sample was judged by 1 experienced singing teacher and 4 voice pathologists on one semantic bipolar 7-point scales (ringing-dull). The results showed that the SPR and SPP had significant correlations with ringing quality. The SPR had a significant relationship with ringing quality on singing voice in singing students. The SPR can be an important quantitative measurement for evaluating singing voice quality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2004

Background and Objectives : Many studies have described and analyzed singer's formant and it has been shown that the epilaryngeal tube in the human airway is responsible for vocal ring, or the singer's formant. A similar phenomenon produced by trained singers in their speech led some authors to examine the speaker's ring. This study was designed to analyze the speaking voice of the singers and speaker's ring. Baterials and Methods : Ten tenors, fifteen baritones, fifteen sopranos and ten mezzo sopranos attending the music college, department of vocal music were chosen for this study. Fifteen male and fifteen female untrained normal speakers were chosen for control group. Each subject was asked to produce a sample of a sustained spoken vowel /ah/ sound for at least five seconds and read sentence 'Kaeul'. 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 LTA Power spectrum of/ah/ sound, a significant increase was seen in the 2,500-3,500Hz region(p<0.01) in four trained singer group compared with untrained speaker group, and a significant increase in the 9,000-10,000Hz region(p<0.01) in soparano group. Similarly, in sentence 'Kaeul', there was a significant increase in energy in the tenor, baritone, mezzo soprano group compared with the untrained speaker group in the 2,500-3,500Hz region(p<0.01), and a significant increase in all frequency region(p<0.01) in the soprano group. Conclusions : The LTA power spectrum suggests that trained singers group show more energy concentration in the 'singer's formant' region in the speaking voice, and authors believe this region to be the 'speaker's ring'. Further research is needed on the effect of singing training on the resonance of the speaking voice.

• 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.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.11-18
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• 2010

This study compared classical operatic singing and applied music singing using the vocal assessment software, Dr. Speech and SPEAD from Lx Speech Studio. Participants in this study included: eight female operatic singers (mean 22.6 yrs, average career 7.5 yrs); eight male operatic singers (mean 25.6 yrs, average career 7.3 yrs); eight female applied music singers (mean 25.1 yrs, average career 6.1 yrs); and eight male applied music singers (mean 27.6 yrs, average career 6.8 yrs). The results demonstrated significantly higher closed quotient values in female applied music singers during singing (p<.05). In addition, higher closed quotient values in speaking were presented in male classical singers and longer MPT was obtained in female operatic singers (p<.05). Furthermore, singer's formants were identified in all male operatic singers and in three female operatic singers. In contrast, only one applied music male and one female singer showed singer's formants while singing.