The role of the vocal tract for phonation at very high soprano fundamental frequencies (F0s) is not yet understood in detail. In this investigation, two experiments were carried out with a single professional high soprano subject. First, using two dimensional (2D) dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (24 fps) midsagittal and coronal vocal tract shapes were analyzed while the subject sang a scale from Bb5 (932 Hz) to G6 (1568 Hz). In a second experiment, volumetric vocal tract MRI data were recorded from sustained phonations (13 s) for the pitches C6 (1047 Hz) and G6 (1568 Hz). Formant frequencies were measured in physical models created by 3D printing, and calculated from area functions obtained from the 3D vocal tract shapes. The data showed that there were only minor modifications of the vocal tract shape. These changes involved a decrease of the piriform sinus as well as small changes of tongue position. Formant frequencies did not exhibit major differences between C6 and G6 for F1 and F3, respectively. Only F2 was slightly raised for G6. For G6, however, F2 is not excited by any voice source partial. Therefore, this investigation was not able to confirm that the analyzed professional soprano subject adjusted formants to voice source partials for the analyzed F0s.
References
1.
Barney
, A.
, De Stefano
, A.
, and Henrich
, N.
(2007
). “The effect of glottal opening on the acoustic response of the vocal tract
,” Acta. Acust. Acust.
93
, 1046
–1056
.2.
Beautemps
, D.
, Badin
, P.
, and Bailly
, G.
(2001
). “Linear degrees of freedom in speech production: Analysis of cineradio- and labio-film data and articulatory-acoustic modeling
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
109
, 2165
–2180
.3.
Birkholz
, P.
(2005
). 3D-Artikulatorische Sprachsynthese (3D Articulatory Speech Synthesis)
(Logos Verlag
, Berlin
), pp. 1
–171
.4.
Birkholz
, P.
, and Jackèl
, D.
(2004
). “Influence of temporal discretization schemes on formant frequencies and bandwidths in time domain simulations of the vocal tract system
,” in Proceedings of the Interspeech 2004-ICSLP
, 2004, Jeju
, Korea
, pp. 1125
–1128
.5.
Birnbaum
, N. S.
, and Aaronson
, H. B.
(2008
). “Dental impressions using 3D digital scanners: Virtual becomes reality
,” Compend. Contin. Educ. Dent.
29
, 494
–498
, 505.6.
Bresch
, E.
, and Narayanan
, S.
(2010
). “Real-time magnetic resonance imaging investigation of resonance tuning in soprano singing
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
128
, EL335
–EL341
.7.
Dang
, J.
, and Honda
, K.
(1997
). “Acoustic characteristics of the piriform fossa in models and humans
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
101
, 456
–465
.8.
Dice
, L. R.
(1945
). “Measures of the amount of ecologic association between species
,” Ecology
26
, 297
–302
.9.
Echternach
, M.
, Döllinger
, M.
, Sundberg
, J.
, Traser
, L.
, and Richter
, B.
(2013
). “Vocal fold vibrations at high soprano fundamental frequencies
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
133
, EL82
–EL87
.10.
Echternach
, M.
, Markl
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2012
). “Dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging for the analysis of voice physiology
,” Curr. Opin. Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg.
20
, 450
–457
.11.
Echternach
, M.
, Sundberg
, J.
, Arndt
, S.
, Breyer
, T.
, Markl
, M.
, Schumacher
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2008
). “Vocal tract and register changes analysed by real time MRI in male professional singers—A pilot study
,” Logoped. Phoniatr. Vocol.
33
, 67
–73
.12.
Echternach
, M.
, Sundberg
, J.
, Arndt
, S.
, Markl
, M.
, Schumacher
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2010a
). “Vocal tract in female registers—a dynamic real-time MRI study
,” J. Voice
24
, 133
–139
.13.
Echternach
, M.
, Sundberg
, J.
, Baumann
, T.
, Markl
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2011a
). “Vocal tract area functions and formant frequencies in opera tenors' modal and falsetto registers
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
129
, 3955
–3963
.14.
Echternach
, M.
, Sundberg
, J.
, Markl
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2010b
). “Professional opera tenor`s vocal tract configurations in registers
,” Folia Phoniatr. Logop.
62
, 278
–287
.15.
Echternach
, M.
, Traser
, L.
, Markl
, M.
, and Richter
, B.
(2011b
). “Vocal tract configurations in male alto register functions
,” J. Voice
25
, 670
–677
.16.
Fant
, G.
(1972
). “Vocal tract wall effects, losses, and resonance bandwidths
,” STL-QPSR, Department of Speech Communication and Music Acoustics, Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm
, Vol. 2-3/1972
, pp. 28
–52
.17.
Flugge
, T. V.
, Schlager
, S.
, Nelson
, K.
, Nahles
, S.
, and Metzger
, M. C.
(2013
). “Precision of intraoral digital dental impressions with iTero and extraoral digitization with the iTero and a model scanner
,” Am. J. Orthod. Dentofacial Orthop.
144
, 471
–478
.18.
Garnier
, M.
, Henrich
, N.
, Crevier-Buchman
, L.
, Vincent
, C.
, Smith
, J.
, and Wolfe
, J.
(2012
). “Glottal behavior in the high soprano range and the transition to the whistle register
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
131
, 951
–962
.19.
Garnier
, M.
, Henrich
, N.
, Smith
, J.
, and Wolfe
, J.
(2010
). “Vocal tract adjustments in the high soprano range
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
, 3771
–3780
.20.
Goldstein
, U. G.
(1980
). “An articulatory model for the vocal tracts of growing children
,” dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, Cambridge, MA
, pp. 1
–542
.21.
Herzel
, H.
, and Reuter
, R.
(1997
). “Whistle register and biphonation in a child's voice
,” Folia Phoniatr. Logop.
49
, 216
–224
.22.
Joliveau
, E.
, Smith
, J.
, and Wolfe
, J.
(2004
). “Acoustics: Tuning of vocal tract resonance by sopranos
,” Nature
427
, 116
.23.
Keilmann
, A.
, and Michek
, F.
(1993
). “Physiologie und akustische Analysen der Pfeifstimme der Frau” (“Physiology and acoustic analysis of whistle voice of the woman
”), Folia Phoniatr. (Basel)
45
, 247
–255
.24.
Lindblom
, B.
, Branderud
, P.
, Sundberg
, J.
, and Djamshidpey
, H.
(2007
). “On the acoustics of spread lips
,” in Proceedings of Fonetik
, TMH-QPSR (2007), pp. 13
–16
.25.
Lindblom
, B. E.
, and Sundberg
, J. E.
(1971
). “Acoustical consequences of lip, tongue, jaw, and larynx movement
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
50
, 1166
–1179
.26.
Martienssen-Lohmann
, F.
(1963
). Der Wissende Sänger (The Knowing Singer)
(Atlantisverlag
, Zürich
), pp. 1
–456
.27.
Mermelstein
, P.
(1973
). “Articulatory model for the study of speech production
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
53
, 1070
–1082
.28.
Miller
, D. G.
, and Schutte
, H. K.
(1993
). “Physical definition of the ‘flageolet register,’
” J. Voice
7
, 206
–212
.29.
Motoki
, K.
, Badin
, P.
, and Miki
, N.
(1994
). “Measurement of acoustic impedance density distribution in the near field of the labial horn
,” in Proceedings of the ICSLP1994
, Yokohama
, Japan
.30.
Schultz
, P.
(1902
). “Über einen Fall von willkürlichem laryngealen Pfeifen beim Menschen” (“About a case of voluntary laryngeal whistle in a human
”), Arch. F. Physiol. Suppl.
523
.31.
Sundberg
, J.
(1975
). “Formant technique in a professional female singer
,” Acustica
32
, 89
–96
.32.
Sundberg
, J.
(2009
). “Articulatory configuration and pitch in a classically trained soprano singer
,” J. Voice
23
, 546
–551
.33.
Svec
, J. G.
, Sundberg
, J.
, and Hertegard
, S.
(2008
). “Three registers in an untrained female singer analyzed by videokymography, strobolaryngoscopy and sound spectrography
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
123
, 347
–353
.34.
Swerdlin
, Y.
, Smith
, J.
, and Wolfe
, J.
(2010
). “The effect of whisper and creak vocal mechanisms on vocal tract resonances
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
127
, 2590
–2598
.35.
Takemoto
, H.
, Mokhtari
, P.
, and Kitamura
, T.
(2010
). “Acoustic analysis of the vocal tract during vowel production by finite-difference time-domain method
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
128
, 3724
–3738
.36.
Titze
, I. R.
(2008
). “Nonlinear source-filter coupling in phonation: Theory
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
123
, 2733
–2749
.37.
Titze
, I. R.
, Riede
, T.
, and Popolo
, P.
(2008
). “Nonlinear source-filter coupling in phonation: Vocal exercises
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
123
, 1902
–1915
.38.
Traser
, L.
, Burdumy
, M.
, Richter
, B.
, Vicari
, M.
, and Echternach
, M.
(2013
). “The effect of supine and upright position on vocal tract configurations during singing—a comparative study in professional tenors
,” J. Voice
27
, 141
–148
.39.
Ungeheuer
, G.
(1962
). Elemente einer Akustischen Theorie der Vokalartikulation (Elements of an Acoustic Theory of Vowel Articulation)
(Springer-Verlag
, Berlin, Germany
).40.
41.
Walker
, J. S.
(1988
). “An investigation of the whistle register in the female voice
,” J. Voice
2
, 140
–150
.42.
Winkelmann
, S.
, Schaeffter
, T.
, Koehler
, T.
, Eggers
, H.
, and Doessel
, O.
(2007
). “An optimal radial profile order based on the Golden Ratio for time-resolved MRI
,” IEEE Trans. Med. Imaging
26
, 68
–76
.© 2015 Acoustical Society of America.
2015
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.
