Preliminary analysis of vocal chant

The use of chanting as a mode of voice production has been generally limited to religious ceremonies, theatrical performances, or classroom exercises such as memorizing the multiplication tables. It has been suggested that chanting of the type done by Tibetian lamas resembles the production of vocal fry. The purpose of this study was to compare vocal chant, vocal fry, and normal phonation on the parameters of mean air‐flow rate, fundamental frequency of spectrum. Three males and two females produced samples of vocal chant, vocal fry, and normal phonation. The samples were produced in pairs (i.e., chant normal) with no break between the pairs. The subjects produced two sets of samples, one in a sound‐treated room and one in a respiratory mask. The first set was used to obtain the acoustic measures; the second to obtain the air‐flow values. The results indicate that vocal chant, vocal fry, and normal phonation are produced at three different ranges of air‐flow rate. It was also possible to different late vocal fry and vocal chant on the basis of voice fundamental frequency.