Skuk Verena G, Schweinberger Stefan R
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2014 Feb;57(1):285-96. doi: 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0314).
To determine the relative importance of acoustic parameters (fundamental frequency [F0], formant frequencies [FFs], aperiodicity, and spectrum level [SL]) on voice gender perception, the authors used a novel parameter-morphing approach that, unlike spectral envelope shifting, allows the application of nonuniform scale factors to transform formants and more direct comparison of parameter impact.
In each of 2 experiments, 16 listeners with normal hearing (8 female, 8 male) classified voice gender for morphs between female and male speakers, using syllable tokens from 2 male-female speaker pairs. Morphs varied single acoustic parameters (Experiment 1) or selected combinations (Experiment 2), keeping residual parameters androgynous, as determined in a baseline experiment.
The strongest cue related to gender perception was F0, followed by FF and SL. Aperiodicity did not systematically influence gender perception. Morphing F0 and FF in conjunction produced convincing changes in perceived gender-changes that were equivalent to those for Full morphs interpolating all parameters. Despite the importance of F0, morphing FF and SL in combination produced effective changes in voice gender perception.
The most important single parameters for gender perception are, in order, F0, FF, and SL. At the same time, F0 and vocal tract resonances have a comparable impact on voice gender perception.
为了确定声学参数（基频[F0]、共振峰频率[FFs]、非周期性和频谱水平[SL]）在语音性别感知中的相对重要性，作者采用了一种新颖的参数变形方法，与频谱包络移动不同，该方法允许应用非均匀比例因子来变换共振峰，并能更直接地比较参数的影响。
在两个实验中，16名听力正常的受试者（8名女性，8名男性）使用来自两对男女说话者的音节样本，对女性和男性说话者之间的变形语音进行性别分类。在一个基线实验中确定保持残余参数中性的情况下，变形语音改变单个声学参数（实验1）或选定的参数组合（实验2）。
与性别感知相关的最强线索是F0，其次是FF和SL。非周期性并未系统地影响性别感知。同时改变F0和FF会使感知到的性别产生令人信服的变化——这些变化等同于对所有参数进行插值的完全变形所产生的变化。尽管F0很重要，但同时改变FF和SL也会在语音性别感知上产生有效的变化。
性别感知最重要的单个参数依次为F0、FF和SL。同时，F0和声道共振对语音性别感知有相当的影响。
