title: Autophonic Loudness of Singers in Simulated Room Acoustic Environments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper aims to study the effect of room acoustics and phonemes on the perception of loudness of one's own voice (autophonic loudness) for a group of trained singers.
  
  
  METHODS
  For a set of five phonemes, 20 singers vocalized over several autophonic loudness ratios, while maintaining pitch constancy over extreme voice levels, within five simulated rooms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were statistically significant differences in the slope of the autophonic loudness function (logarithm of autophonic loudness as a function of voice sound pressure level) for the five phonemes, with slopes ranging from 1.3 (/a:/) to 2.0 (/z/). There was no significant variation in the autophonic loudness function slopes with variations in room acoustics. The autophonic room response, which represents a systematic decrease in voice levels with increasing levels of room reflections, was also studied, with some evidence found in support. Overall, the average slope of the autophonic room response for the three corner vowels (/a:/, /i:/, and /u:/) was -1.4 for medium autophonic loudness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings relating to the slope of the autophonic loudness function are in agreement with the findings of previous studies where the sensorimotor mechanisms in regulating voice were shown to be more important in the perception of autophonic loudness than hearing of room acoustics. However, the role of room acoustics, in terms of the autophonic room response, is shown to be more complicated, requiring further inquiry. Overall, it is shown that autophonic loudness grows at more than twice the rate of loudness growth for sounds created outside the human body.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: manuj.yadav@sydney.edu.au.
authors.forename: Manuj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Densil
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cabrera
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005160:Facility Design and Construction; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012649:Self Concept; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014833:Voice Quality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Lombard effect; Loudness of one's own voice; Opera singing; Psychoacoustics; Room acoustics simulation