The acoustic characteristics of Korean traditional singing

Korean traditional singing voice, called ‘‘Pansori,’’ is known for its peculiar sound quality compared to Western singing voice. It sounds very strained, yet hoarse. This study aims at investigating the acoustic characteristics of this singing voice. Singing voices of both male and female professional Pansori singers were recorded and analyzed. Also, regular conversation of one of the singers was recorded and analyzed to compare the singing vs conversational voice. From long‐term average spectra of suspended vowels and from harmonic structure analysis, several things were noted. Pansori singing voice showed more gradual downslopes in spectrum envelope than normal voice. And conventional methods of measuring formant frequencies were of no use for this particular singing voice. Instead of showing regular vowel formant patterns, Pansori seemed to be characterized with irregular formant patterns such as a single prominent peak throughout the whole frequency range, especially in a strained voice. Conversation data revealed similar characteristics of the singing voice, indicating that these characteristics were the results of the permanent change of the singer’s vocal source, not the results of the mode switch. [Work supported by a Research Fund provided by the Korea Research Foundation, Support for Faculty Research Abroad.]