Relations between vocal registers in voice breaks

1
Relations between vocal registers in voice
breaks

• Gerrit BloothooftMieke van Wijck
• Peter Pabon
• UiL-OTS Utrecht University

2
Voice Breaks

• A sudden change in vocal register(modal ?
  falsetto)
• Spontaneous (puberty)
• Voluntary (yodel, )

3
Theories

• Acoustic mismatch between sub- and supraglottal
  resonances
• Non-linear behavior of vocal folds in register
  overlap area
• same conditions determine two different modes

4
Question

• Acoustic features before and after a voice break
  (F0 and SPL)
• Start conditions, target conditions

5
Experiment

• Seven untrained male subjects
• 1783 modal falsetto breaks
• 853 falsetto -modal breaks
• Phonetogram framework
• SPL F0 measurement

6
Vocal Registers in Phonetogram
Falsetto register
SPL (dB)
Overlap
Modal register
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
7
Break requests

• Controlled start condition (modal)
• F0 196 Hz
• F0 293 Hz
• F0 392 Hz
• With maximum range of SPL
• No conditions for falsetto start
• Let it happen

8
Starts in Modal register
SPL (dB)
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
9
Modal ? Falsetto /u/
Modal start
SPL (dB)
Falsetto result
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
10
Modal Falsetto observations

• Wide range of possible starts in modal register,
  also outside register overlap area
• About equal SPL in modal and falsetto
• Very limited falsetto SPL-F0 result region,
  within register overlap area
• The latter two conditions determine size of F0
  jump

11
Starts in Falsetto register
SPL (dB)
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
12
Falsetto ? Modal /u/
Modal result
SPL (dB)
Falsetto start
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
13
Falsetto- Modal observations

• Very limited falsetto SPL-F0 start region, within
  register overlap area
• About equal SPL in falsetto and modal
• Octave jump preference, result outside register
  overlap area

14
Voice Break Limitations
Wide range inmodal register
SPL (dB)
Very limited start and result area in
falsettoregister
Fundamental Frequency (Hz)
15
Conclusions

• Vowel independency excludes coupling effect
• Non-linear properties of vocal folds are best
  candidates, but should be extended to
  non-overlapping modal area