Detection of high-frequency energy level changes in speech and singing.
Previous work has shown that human listeners are sensitive to level differences in high-frequency energy (HFE) in isolated vowel sounds produced by male singers. Results indicated that sensitivity to HFE level changes increased with overall HFE level, suggesting that listeners would be more "tuned" to HFE in vocal production exhibiting higher levels of HFE. It follows that sensitivity to HFE level changes should be higher (1) for female vocal production than for male vocal production and (2) for singing than for speech. To test this hypothesis, difference limens for HFE level changes in male and female speech and singing were obtained. Listeners showed significantly greater ability to detect level changes in singing vs speech but not in female vs male speech. Mean differences limen scores for speech and singing were about 5 dB in the 8-kHz octave (5.6-11.3 kHz) but 8-10 dB in the 16-kHz octave (11.3-22 kHz). These scores are lower (better) than those previously reported for isolated vowels and some musical instruments.
National Center for Voice and Speech, University of Utah, 136 South Main Street, Suite 320, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.
Brian B
BB
Monson
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210071, Tucson, Arizona 85721.
Andrew J
AJ
Lotto
Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210071, Tucson, Arizona 85721.
Brad H
BH
Story
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012737:Sex Factors; D063346:Singing; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult