SUMMARY
In speaking, shouting, and singing, vocal loudness is known to be regulated with lung
pressure, but the degree to which vocal fold adduction and airway shape play a role
in loudness control is less well known. When loudness is quantified in sones instead
of sound pressure level (SPL), the regulatory mechanisms are even less obvious. Here
it is shown computationally that loudness is insensitive to changes in SPL produced
with variable adduction. A trade-off exists between a reduction in glottal flow amplitude
and a flatter spectral slope. When the airway configuration is changed from a uniform
tube to a “belt” or “call” shape, loudness can increase with a slight decrease in SPL. When the airway configuration is changed from a uniform tube to an operatic
“ring” shape, loudness is increased with only a small increase in SPL.
KEY WORDS
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 13, 2021
Accepted:
November 19,
2020
Footnotes
This work was supported by grant No. 1R01 DC017998-01 from the National Institutes on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
PACS numbers: 43.75 Rs, St, Zz
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
