title: Acoustic Properties of the Voice Source and the Vocal Tract: Are They Perceptually Independent?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study sought to determine whether the properties of the voice source and vocal tract are perceptually independent.
  
  
  METHODS
  Within-subjects design.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study employed a paired-comparison paradigm where listeners heard synthetic voices and rated them as same or different using a visual analog scale. Stimuli were synthesized using three different source slopes and two different formant patterns (mezzo-soprano and soprano) on the vowel /a/ at four pitches: A3, C4, B4, and F5.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Whereas formant pattern was the strongest effect, difference in source slope also affected perceived quality difference. Source slope and formant pattern were not independently perceived.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that when judging laryngeal adduction using perceptual information, judgments may not be accurate when the stimuli are of differing formant patterns.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Knoxville, Tennessee.. Electronic address: merickso@uthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Molly L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Erickson
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000162:Acoustics; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D007830:Larynx / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D063346:Singing; D014732:Vibration; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: filter; independence; perception; source; timbre