Auditory and Acoustic Analysis of Voice Quality Variations in Normal Voices

Anatomical differences and habitual long-term features are components in the individual voice quality and are cues about the speakers identity for the listener. Terms for voice quality or phonation types for use in normal speech often come from studies of pathological speech (laryngeal setting). Therefore they may not be well suited to describe voice quality (especially the variations) of a normal voice. A part of a case study of impersonation, focusing on the imitation of the voice and the speech behaviour, concentrating on voice quality, is presented. This paper also shows some reference types of voice qualities, recorded by a trained phonetician, and their acoustic correlates. An analysis of normal voices are also presented and the aim of that study is to describe normal voices and to use appropriate perceptual voice quality parameters and to find acoustical correlates to the auditory impression.