Objective acoustic voice-quality parameters in the computer phonetogram

Summary A phonetogram is a plot of the dynamic range of the voice as a function of fundamental frequency. Traditionally, the phonetogram only records the sound-pressure level (SPL) of the threshold of phonation and the upper limit in SPL the voice can reach with sustained phonation as a function of the fundamental frequency ( F 0 ). In this study, the phonetogram is extended by including acoustic voice-quality parameters. Three additional parameters are tested: jitter, shimmer, and crest factor. For each individual voice, the variation in the three parameters is evaluated over the entire phonetogram area. By averaging individual phonetograms, standard or norm phonetograms are obtained revealing general patterns in voice-quality variation. These patterns reflect the complex relations between F 0 , SPL, and the acoustic voice-quality parameters just mentioned. Jitter and shimmer distributions over the phonetogram show that large variations in perturbation values can be expected when production conditions are altered. Highest perturbation values are found for the low F 0 and low SPL phonations. For all voices, a gradual decrease of the crest factor is found with increasing F 0 , reflecting the degrading of spectral complexity with F 0 . The crest-factor parameter can also be used to mark those areas in the phonetogram where the fundamental dominates the waveform and where flow control is the main SPL regulating mechanism in voice production. The strong quality variations within the phonetogram stress the need for accurate control of F 0 and SPL in objective voice-quality measurement.