Shari L. Campbell
Dept. of Commun. Sci. and Disord., 576 Aderhold Hall, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
The perceptual dimensions derived from acoustical changes associated with vowel quality, voice quality, voice classification, and gender are not clearly defined. This project uses the trained singing voice as a source of controlled variation in parameters important to the timbre of both speech and voice. A database of vowels was collected from 18 singers representing six major voice classifications. Repetitions were made of three vowels at three or four fundamental frequencies and at three dynamic levels in normal register. Six subjects also attempted to match loudness (as indicated by a target of equal phons) for this isoparametric condition. Spectral measures (e.g., FFTs, STFTs, 1/3-octave band levels) were transformed in a manner intended to approximate perceptually relevant aspects of auditory processing (e.g., loudness and sharpness densities and loudness and sharpness over time). By comparing the spectral measures with their transformations, it may be possible to make inferences concerning which acoustical changes are perceptually relevant, and about the nature of their perceptual representation. [Work supported by the Institute for Perception Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.]