[Multiparametric description of voice quality for normal male and female voices based on acoustic analyses].
BACKGROUND
An improved method to obtain voice quality parameters from the acoustic speech signal is presented and applied to the determination of voice profiles.


METHODS
The method is based on voice parameters proposed by Stevens and Hanson (1994). Vowel productions of 300 adult speakers (150 male and 150 female speakers) without any known voice pathologies were considered.


RESULTS
In a first step, gender differentiated mean normal voice profiles are presented. The significant differences between male and female speakers indicate the necessity for separate treatment of the two groups. In a second step, a clustering technique differentiates three numerically substantial subgroups for male and female speakers. Over and above that, the acoustic parameters with the best potential for subgroup differentiation are determined. Additionally, a continuum containing individual variation within normal phonation is shown.


CONCLUSIONS
The relevance of the analysis method is supported by the possibility of a physiological interpretation of the voice data.
Institut für Phonetik/Phonologie, Universität des Saarlandes. puetzer@coli.uni-sb.de
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012737:Sex Factors; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000502:physiology