Summary
Background
A professional singer produced various vowels on a comfortable loudness and pitch
in an inspiratory and expiratory phonation manner. The present study investigates
the morphological differences and tries to find a link with the acoustical characteristics.
Objectives/Hypothesis
We hypothesize that features, constantly present over all vowels, characterize inhaling
phonation and that the formant frequencies reflect the morphological findings.
Study design
A prospective case study was carried out.
Methods
A female singer uttered the vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ in a supine position
under magnetic resonance imaging, on a comfortable loudness and pitch, in both inhaling
and exhaling manner. The exact same parameters as in previous reports were measured
(1–3). Acoustical analysis was performed with Praat.
Results
Wilcoxon directional testing demonstrates a statistically significant difference in
(1) the distance between the lips, (2) the antero-posterior tongue diameter, (3) the
distance between the lips and the tip of the tongue, (4) the distance between the
epiglottis and the posterior pharyngeal wall, (5) the narrowing of the subglottic
space, and (6) the oropharyngeal and the hypopharyngeal areas. Acoustical analysis
reveals slightly more noise and irregularity during reverse phonation. The central
frequency of F0 and F1 is identical, whereas that of F2 and F3 increases, and that
of F4 varies.
Conclusions
A smaller mouth opening, a narrowing of the subglottic space, a larger supralaryngeal
inlet, and a smaller antero-posterior tongue diameter can be considered as morphological
characteristics for reverse phonation. Acoustically, reverse phonation discretely
contains more noise and perturbation. The formant frequency distribution concurs with
a mouth narrowing and pharyngeal widening during inhaling.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 05, 2017
Accepted:
August 1,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
