Volume : IV, Issue : X, October - 2015

Normative Values of Adult’s Voice in Indian Population Using Praat

Ms. Reshmi M. , Dr. Santosh Kumar

Abstract :

Voice plays a major role in speech and communication. Voice characteristics convey information not only related to the individuals laryngeal status but also the social origins, emotional state, physique, age and sex. Any deviation from these guidelines is considered as voice disorder. The present study included 60 voice samples (30 males and 30 females) age range 18 to 25 years. The voice samples were recorded in sound treated room and analyzed with praat software. Voice parameters were analyzed like fundamental frequency( f0), Jitter (local), jitter (local, absolute), shimmer (local), shimmer (local dB), harmonics to noise ratio(HNR), first formant frequency( f1), second formant frequency( f2), and third formant frequency( f3) for the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/. Mean and standard deviation were calculated and also t–test was carried out to observe the significant difference across gender on voice parameters. Significant differences were noticed on some of the voice parameters between genders. Introduction Voice is a modality through which most of the living things like humans produces speech, expresses different emotions. Voice also depicts an individual’s health condition, mood and overall personality. This is generated by the help of air flow from the lungs and Bernoulli effect which results in opening and closing of vocal folds. Components of voice are pitch, loudness and quality. Pitch is a psychological correlate of frequency, which varies across gender, as females have high and males have low pitch. Loudness is psychological correlate of intensity, while quality determines the character or distinctive aspect of voice. Voice production depends upon coordination of these fundamental systems i.e., respiratory, phonatory, resonatory and regulatory. The vocal fold viation of female is around 200 – 220/s and 100 – 120/s for men. Objectives • To develop normative data of adult’s voice • To compare gender difference on voice parameters Methodology A total of 60 normal subjects were selected which included 30 females and 30 males. Criterion of selection was no voice abnormalities in terms of anatomy and physiology. Age range was 18 to 25 years. Recording was done using microphone attached to a laptop having praat software version (5.3.17). While recording; environmental disturbances (sound treated room), microphone to subject distance and seating comfortability of subject was taken into consideration. Here subjects were instructed to take a deep eath and phonate /a, i, u/ as long as possible. Phonation of 4–5sec of duration and sampling frequency of 44100Hz with less amplitude fluctuation was taken into consideration for recording. Following parameters were analyzed; f0 ( fundamental frequency), Jitter (local), jitter (local, absolute), shimmer (local), shimmer (local dB), HNR (harmonics to noise ratio), f1 ( first formant frequency), f2 (second formant frequency), and f3 (third formant frequency). Results and Discussion This study was undertaken to investigate the acoustic parameters in the normal individual’s voice. The voice of the individuals with a variety of variables was extracted using PRAAT software version 5.3.17. Mean and standard deviation were analyzed separately for males and females. t–test was carried out to find the significant parameter to distinguish between sounds across genders.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

Ms. Reshmi M., Dr. Santosh Kumar Normative Values of Adult¥s Voice in Indian Population Using Praat International Journal of Scientific Research, Vol : 4, Issue : 10 October 2015

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