Acoustic and physiological voice measurements for middle adult males and females

• Main Authors: Huei-Chen Chen, 陳慧臻
• Other Authors: Sheng Hwa Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/60374613941046597030

碩士 === 國立台北護理學院 === 聽語障礙科學研究所 === 98 === The aim of this study is to investigate 1) gender effects on the voice production of healthy Taiwanese adults by using acoustic and physiological measurements, and 2) the differences between the results in this study and other studies. Subjects of the study are forty-eight healthy adults with normal voice, including 24 males and 24 females. All subjects were asked to sustained vowel /a/ and read Mandarin passage at a comfortable pitch and loudness. The voice samples of vowel /a/ were analyzed with acoustic measures of fundamental frequency (F0), intensity, perturbation of frequency and amplitude, and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR)；the reading passage of speaking fundamental frequency, highest and lowest speaking fundamemntal frequency, the maximum range of speaking fundamental frequency, speaking intensity, highest and lowest speaking intensity, and the maximum range of speaking intensity. Besides, maximum phonation time (MPT) and s/z ratio were measured with stop watch. Ttwo-tailed independent T-test was used to test the statistical significance in acoustic and physiological measures between males and females. The results showed that compared to the female subjects, the male had a significant lower F0, jitter percent (Jitt %), relative average perturbation (RAP), pitch perturbation quotient (PPQ), fundamental frequency variation (vF0), degree of sub-harmonics (DSH), mean speaking fundamental frequency, highest/lowest speaking fundamental frequency (SFF), maximum range of speaking frequency, and lowest speaking intensity. However, the male subjects showed significant greater phonation intensity in sustained vowel, and greater mean speaking intensity, the highest speaking intensity, and the maximum range of speaking intensity in reading passage than those of females. Maximum phonation time and s/z ratio didn’t reveal any statistical significance between males and females. The phonation intensity, SFF, mean speaking intensity, MPT and s/z ratio of the study are similar to the findings of other studies for speakers of other languages. The F0 in sustained vowel of the study in both sex was lower, but SFF in reading passage in females was higher than the findings of other studies for other languages of the comparative genders. The F0, intensity, and perturbation of frequency of the study significantly differ between males and females. The F0 in this study showed different from the data in other studies for speakers of other languages. Therefore the data from the study can be served as reference in clinical voice assessment and treatment in Taiwan.