title: Vocal flexibility and prosodic strategies in a professional impersonator.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Voice imitation of a famous personality results in detection and reproduction of some vocal features, including spectral characteristics but also prosody, speech flow, or articulatory patterns. The objective of this study was to describe vocal flexibility in one of the best French impersonators and determine his strategies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective study.
  
  
  METHODS
  We have downloaded the recording of a political speech by former French President Jacques Chirac, who we have chosen for his very specific and recognizable voice. After transcription, we asked one professional impersonator and four control subjects to do several readings in their natural voice and in a spontaneous imitation task (ie, without listening to any of Chirac's recording). To facilitate the control subject's task, we made an additional recording after having them listen to the target sample. Using Praat freeware, we have compared several prosodic measurements taken on each sample: pitch, pitch range, articulatory speed, duration of pauses, and number of pauses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed significant modifications in the participant's prosody and significant differences in the strategies used by the professional impersonator and the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The professional impersonator's imitation strategy lies in the reproduction of global characteristics and instant alignment of prosodic variations.
authors: Laboratoire Parole et Langage - CNRS UMR 7309, Aix en Provence, France; CHU Timone - Pôle Cervicofacial, Marseille, France. joana.revis@univ-amu.fr
authors: Joana
authors: J
authors: Revis
authors: Céline
authors: C
authors: De Looze
authors: Antoine
authors: A
authors: Giovanni
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D005197:Famous Persons; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D009790:Occupations; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D010507:Periodicity; D010700:Phonetics; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014833:Voice Quality