Relationship between changes in voice pitch and loudness

• Summary Changes in mean fundamental frequency accompanying changes in loudness of phonation are analyzed in 9 professional singers, 9 nonsingers, and 10 male and 10 female patients suffering from vocal functional dysfunction. The subjects read discursive texts with noise in earphones, and some also at voluntarily varied vocal loudness. The healthy subjects phonated as softly and as loudly as possible at various fundamental frequencies throughout their pitch ranges, and the resulting mean phonetograms are compared. Mean pitch was found to increase by about half-semitones per decibel sound level. Grossly, the subject groups gave similar results, although the singers changed voice pitch more than the nonsingers. The voice pitch changes may be explained as passive results of changes of subglottal pressure required for the sound level variation.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Musik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Music (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Strömningsmekanik och akustik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Voice

Speech

Singers

Phonetogram

Vocal loudness

Fundamental frequency

Equivalent sound level

Masked auditory feedback

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)