Whiteside S P, Hodgson C
Department of Human Communication Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK.
Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2000;25(3):122-32. doi: 10.1080/14015430050175851.
This study is a follow-up investigation of some of the acoustic characteristics reported for a group of twenty 6-, 8- and 10-year-old children's voices (Whiteside SP, Hodgson C. Log Phon Vocol 1999; 24: 6-13) and compares the data of these children with data from a group of nine adults. The acoustic characteristics for both the children and the adults were examined as a function of age and sex. Fundamental frequency (F0) and the standard deviation (SD) of F0 were investigated for the entire duration of a phrase-final vowel. In addition, the first three formant frequencies of the midpoints for the phrase-final vowel were also investigated, with reference to phonetic context. All acoustic parameters were investigated by examining the age, sex and context-determined differences. Results indicated significant age differences for all acoustic parameters investigated, which were characterized by a general decrease in the frequency values of parameters with increasing age. In addition, significant sex differences were found for all parameters, with the females generally having higher formant frequency values than their male peers across all ages. Significant phonetic context differences were only found for the second formant frequency, with formant values being highest for the context "jar" and lowest for the context "bar". No significant interactions were found for age-by-context, sex-by-context or age-by-sex-context comparisons. Relative formant frequency differences were also examined using Fant's Kn factor, by considering sex-, age- and context-linked patterns. The data also provided some evidence for parallel developmental patterns in the different phonetic contexts of a phrase-final vowel. Furthermore, the results showed that there was some evidence of all three types of the aforementioned patterns in addition to phonetic context-determined changes in K2 factor values. The results reported here, therefore, provide further evidence for age- and sex-linked differences in the patterns of development and maturation of the vocal apparatus.
本研究是对一组20名6岁、8岁和10岁儿童声音所报告的一些声学特征的后续调查（怀特赛德SP，霍奇森C。《语音与嗓音》1999年；24：6 - 13），并将这些儿童的数据与一组9名成年人的数据进行比较。对儿童和成年人的声学特征均作为年龄和性别的函数进行了研究。在短语末尾元音的整个时长内研究了基频（F0）和F0的标准差（SD）。此外，还参照语音语境研究了短语末尾元音中点的前三个共振峰频率。通过检查年龄、性别和语境确定的差异来研究所有声学参数。结果表明，所研究的所有声学参数均存在显著的年龄差异，其特征是随着年龄增长参数的频率值普遍降低。此外，所有参数均存在显著的性别差异，在所有年龄段中，女性的共振峰频率值通常高于同龄男性。仅在第二共振峰频率上发现了显著的语音语境差异，在“jar”语境下共振峰值最高，在“bar”语境下最低。在年龄×语境、性别×语境或年龄×性别×语境比较中未发现显著的交互作用。还使用范特的Kn因子，通过考虑与性别、年龄和语境相关的模式来检查相对共振峰频率差异。数据还为短语末尾元音不同语音语境中的平行发育模式提供了一些证据。此外，结果表明，除了语音语境确定的K2因子值变化外，还存在上述三种模式的一些证据。因此，此处报告的结果为发声器官发育和成熟模式中与年龄和性别相关的差异提供了进一步的证据。
