Impact of phonation intensity upon pitch during speaking: a quantitative study in normal subjects

Abstract

During speaking pitch level varies with phonation intensity. The exact relation is, however, unclear. It is not fully understood whether this relationship has any prognostic value towards voice disorders. To gain more insight in these aspects voice fundamental frequency was measured in 250 normal subjects without a history of voice complaints or treatment. Subjects were asked to produce tokens of speech at five different levels of loudness. Compared to women, men commanded a greater dynamic range. Pitch appeared to rise exponentially with phonation intensity. This non-linear relationship appears to be equal in male and female speakers. Detection and quantification of pitch rise with increasing loudness during speech appeared to be easy and might contribute to gaining insight into aspects of voice capacity and quality.

Key Words:

• speech loudness
• speaking fundamental frequency
• phonetogram
• Lombard test
• professional voice