Matching Speaking to Singing Voices and the Influence of Content.
OBJECTIVE
We tested whether speaking voices of unfamiliar people could be matched to their singing voices, and, if so, whether the content of the utterances would influence this matching performance. Our hypothesis was that enough acoustic features would remain the same between speaking and singing voices such that their identification as belonging to the same or different individuals would be possible even upon a single hearing. We also hypothesized that the contents of the utterances would influence this identification process such that voices uttering words would be easier to match than those uttering vowels.


METHODS
We used a within-participant design with blocked stimuli that were counterbalanced using a Latin square design. In one block, mode (speaking vs singing) was manipulated while content was held constant; in another block, content (word vs syllable) was manipulated while mode was held constant, and in the control block, both mode and content were held constant.


METHODS
Participants indicated whether the voices in any given pair of utterances belonged to the same person or to different people.


RESULTS
Cross-mode matching was above chance level, although mode-congruent performance was better. Further, only speaking voices were easier to match when uttering words.


CONCLUSIONS
We can identify speaking and singing voices as the same or different even on just a single hearing. However, content interacts with mode such that words benefit matching of speaking voices but not of singing voices. Results are discussed within an attentional framework.
Department of Psychology, American University, Washington, DC. Electronic address: peynir@american.edu.
Zehra F
ZF
Peynircioğlu
Department of Psychology, American University, Washington, DC.
Brian E
BE
Rabinovitz
Department of Psychology, American University, Washington, DC.
Juliana
J
Repice
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001302:Audiometry, Speech; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D063346:Singing; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013067:Speech Perception; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult
Linguistic content; Singing voices; Speaking voices; Voice identification; Voice perception