Vocal effort is a physiological measure that accounts for changes in voice production as vocal loading increases. It has been quantified in terms of sound pressure level (SPL). This study investigates how vocal effort is affected by speaking style, room acoustics, and short-term vocal fatigue. Twenty subjects were recorded while reading a text at normal and loud volumes in anechoic, semi-reverberant, and reverberant rooms in the presence of classroom babble noise. The acoustics in each environment were modified by creating a strong first reflection in the talker position. After each task, the subjects answered questions addressing their perception of the vocal effort, comfort, control, and clarity of their own voice. Variation in SPL for each subject was measured per task. It was found that SPL and self-reported effort increased in the loud style and decreased when the reflective panels were present and when reverberation time increased. Self-reported comfort and control decreased in the loud style, while self-reported clarity increased when panels were present. The lowest magnitude of vocal fatigue was experienced in the semi-reverberant room. The results indicate that early reflections may be used to reduce vocal effort without modifying reverberation time.
References
1.
Akaike
, H.
(1973
). “Information theory and an extension of maximum likelihood principle,”
in Second International Symposium on Information Theory
, edited by B. N.
Petrov
and F.
Csaki
(Akademiai Kiado
, Budapest
), pp. 167
–281
.2.
Astolfi
, A.
, Bottalico
, P.
, and Barbato
, G.
(2012
). “Subjective and objective speech intelligibility investigations in primary school classrooms
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
131
(1
), 247
–257
.3.
Black
, J. W.
(1950
). “The effect of room characteristic upon vocal intensity and rate
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
22
(2
), 174
–176
.4.
Bottalico
, P.
, and Astolfi
, A.
(2012
). “Investigations into vocal doses and parameters pertaining to primary school teachers in classrooms
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
131
(4
), 2817
–2827
.5.
Bottalico
, P.
, Graetzer
, S.
, and Hunter
, E. J.
(2015
). “Effects of voice style, noise level, and acoustic feedback on objective and subjective voice evaluations
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
138
(6
), EL498
–EL503
.6.
Bradley
, J. S.
(1986
). “Speech intelligibility studies in classrooms
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
80
(3
), 846
–854
.7.
Brunskog
, J.
, Gade
, A. C.
, Bellester
, G. P.
, and Calbo
, L. R.
(2009
). “Increase in voice level and speaker comfort in lecture rooms
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
125
(4
), 2072
–2082
.8.
Eriksson
, A.
, and Traunmüller
, H.
(1999
). “Perception of vocal effort and speaker distance on the basis of vowel utterances
,” in Proc. International Conference on the Phonetic Sciences
, San Francisco, CA.9.
Fairbanks
, G.
(1960
). “The rainbow passage
,” in Voice and Articulation Drillbook
, 2nd. ed. (Harper and Brothers
, New York
).10.
Ferguson
, S. H.
, Poore
, M. A.
, Shrivastav
, R.
, Kendrick
, A.
, McGinnis
, M.
, and Perigoe
, C.
(2010
). “Acoustic correlates of reported clear speech strategies
,” J. Acad. Rehabil. Audiol.
43
, 45
–64
.11.
Hazan
, V.
, and Baker
, R.
(2011
). “Acoustic-phonetic characteristics of speech produced with communicative intent to counter adverse listening conditions
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
130
(4
), 2139
–2152
.12.
Hothorn
, T.
, Bretz
, F.
, and Westfall
, P.
(2008
). “Simultaneous inference in general parametric models
,” Biometrical J.
50
(3
), 346
–363
.13.
Hunter
, E. J.
, Tanner
, K.
, and Smith
, M. E.
(2011
). “Gender differences affecting vocal health of women in vocally demanding careers
,” Log. Phon. Voc.
36
, 128
–136
.14.
Hunter
, E. J.
, and Titze
, I. R.
(2009
). “Quantifying vocal fatigue recovery: Dynamic vocal recovery trajectories after a vocal loading exercise
,” Ann. Otol. Rhinol. Laryngol.
118
(6
), 449
–460
.15.
Hunter
, E. J.
, and Titze
, I. R.
(2010
). “Variations in intensity, fundamental frequency, and voicing for teachers in occupational versus nonoccupational settings
,” J. Sp. Lang. Hear. Res.
53
, 862
–875
.16.
ISO
(2002
). ISO 9921:2002(E), “Ergonomics—Assessment of speech communication
” (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland).17.
ISO
(2008
). ISO 3382-2:2008(E), “Acoustics–Measurement of room acoustic parameters, Part 2: Reverberation time in ordinary rooms”
(International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland).18.
Laukkanen
, A.
, and Kankare
, E.
(2006
). “Vocal loading-related changes in male teachers' voice investigated before and after a working day
,” Folia Phoniatr. Log.
58
, 229
–239 (2006)
.19.
Pelegrín-García
, D.
, and Brunskog
, J.
(2012
). “Speakers' comfort and voice level variation in classrooms: Laboratory research
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
132
, 249
–260
.20.
Pelegrín-García
, D.
, Smits
, B.
, Brunskog
, J.
, and Jeong
, C.
(2011
). “Vocal effort with changing talker-to-listener distance in different acoustic environments
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
129
(4
), 1981
–1990
.21.
Picheny
, M. A.
, Durlach
, N. I.
, and Braida
, L. D.
(1985
). “Speaking clearly for the hard of hearing intelligibility differences between clear and conversational speech
,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res.
28
(1
), 96
–103
.23.
Rantala
, L.
, Vilkman
, E.
, and Bloigu
, R.
(2002
). “Voice changes during working: Subjective complaints and objective measurements for female primary and secondary schoolteachers
,” J. Voice
16
(4
), 344
–355
.22.
R Development Core Team
(2011
). “R: A language and environment for statistical computing
” (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna), available at http://www.R-project.org (Last viewed January 19, 2014).31.
Satterthwaite
, F. E.
(1946
). “An approximate distribution of estimates of variance components
,” Biometr. Bull.
2
(6
), 110
–114
.24.
Shield
, B.
, and Dockrell
, J.
(2004
). “External and internal noise surveys of London primary schools
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
115
(2
), 730
–738
.25.
Titze
, I. R.
(1999
). “Toward occupational safety criteria for vocalization
,” Log. Phon. Vocol.
24
, 49
–54
.26.
Titze
, I. R.
(2000
). Principles of Voice Production
. Second printing (National Center for Voice and Speech
, Iowa City, IA
), pp. 229
–233
, 361–366.27.
Titze
, I. R.
, and Hunter
, E. J.
(2015
). “Comparison of vocal vibration-dose measures for potential-damage risk criteria
,” J. Speech, Lang. Hear. Res.
58
(5
), 1425
–1439
.28.
Titze
, I. R.
, Švec
, J. G.
, and Popolo
, P. S.
(2003
). “Vocal dose measures: Quantifying accumulated vibration exposure in vocal fold tissues
,” J. Speech, Lang. Hear. Res.
46
(6
), 919
–932
.29.
Vilkman
, E.
, Lauri
, E-R.
, Alku
, P.
, Sala
, E.
, and Sihvo
, M.
(1999
). “Effects of prolonged oral reading on F0, SPL, subglottal pressure and amplitude characteristics of glottal flow waveforms
,” J. Voice
13
(2
), 303
–312
.30.
Wassink
, A. B.
, Wright
, R. A.
, and Franklin
, A. D.
(2007
). “Intraspeaker variability in vowel production: An investigation of motherese, hyperspeech, and Lombard speech in Jamaican speakers
,” J. Phon.
35
, 363
–379
.© 2016 Acoustical Society of America.
2016
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.
