Summary
Objectives and Background
To investigate whether voice focus adjustments can alter the audio-vocal feedback
and consequently modulate speech/voice motor control. Speaking with a forward-focused
voice was expected to enhance audio-vocal feedback and thus decrease the variability
of vocal fundamental frequency (F0).
Materials and Method
Twenty-two healthy, untrained adults (10 males and 12 females) were requested to sustain
vowel /a/ with their natural focus and a forward focus and to naturally read the nasal,
oral, and mixed oral-nasal sentences in normal noise-masked auditory conditions. Meanwhile,
a miniature accelerometer was externally attached on the noise to detect the nasal
vibrations during vocalization. Audio recordings were made and analyzed using the
long-term average spectrum (LTAS) and power spectral analysis of F0.
Results
Compared with naturally-focused vowel production and oral sentences, forward-focused
vowel productions and nasal sentences both showed significant increases in nasal accelerometric
amplitude and the spectral power within the range of 200∼300 Hz, and significantly
decreased the F0 variability below 3 Hz, which has been reported to be associated
with enhanced auditory feedback in our previous research. The auditory masking not
only significantly increased the low-frequency F0 variability, but also significantly
decreased the ratio of the spectral power within 200∼300 Hz to the power within 300∼1000
Hz for the vowel and sentence productions. Gender differences were found in the correlations
between the degree of nasal coupling and F0 stability as well as in the LTAS characteristics
in response to noise.
Conclusions
Variations in nasal-oral acoustic coupling not only change the formant features of
speech signals, but involuntarily influence the auditory feedback control of vocal
fold vibrations. Speakers tend to show improved F0 stability in response to a forward-focused
voice adjustment.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 30, 2022
Accepted:
July 27,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofFootnotes
This research was supported by a grant (Grant No. 109-2314-B-010-017-MY3) from Ministry of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan. Wei-Yu Chen is acknowledged for assisting with the experimental work.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
