Vatti Marianna, Santurette Sébastien, Pontoppidan Niels Henrik, Dau Torsten
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2014 Oct;57(5):1961-71. doi: 10.1044/2014_JSLHR-H-13-0219.
Frequency fluctuations in human voices can usually be described as coherent frequency modulation (FM). As listeners with hearing impairment (HI listeners) are typically less sensitive to FM than listeners with normal hearing (NH listeners), this study investigated whether hearing loss affects the perception of a sung vowel based on FM cues.
Vibrato maps were obtained in 14 NH and 12 HI listeners with different degrees of musical experience. The FM rate and FM excursion of a synthesized vowel, to which coherent FM was applied, were adjusted until a singing voice emerged.
In NH listeners, adding FM to the steady vowel components produced perception of a singing voice for FM rates between 4.1 and 7.5 Hz and FM excursions between 17 and 83 cents on average. In contrast, HI listeners showed substantially broader vibrato maps. Individual differences in map boundaries were, overall, not correlated with audibility or frequency selectivity at the vowel fundamental frequency, with no clear effect of musical experience.
Overall, it was shown that hearing loss affects the perception of a sung vowel based on FM-rate and FM-excursion cues, possibly due to deficits in FM detection or discrimination or to a degraded ability to follow the rate of frequency changes.
人类嗓音中的频率波动通常可描述为相干调频（FM）。由于听力受损的听众（HI听众）通常比听力正常的听众（NH听众）对FM的敏感度更低，本研究调查了听力损失是否会基于FM线索影响对歌唱元音的感知。
在14名NH听众和12名HI听众中获取了颤音图，这些听众具有不同程度的音乐经验。对应用了相干FM的合成元音的FM速率和FM偏移进行调整，直到出现歌唱声音。
在NH听众中，在稳定元音成分上添加FM会产生对歌唱声音的感知，FM速率在4.1至7.5赫兹之间，平均FM偏移在17至83音分之间。相比之下，HI听众的颤音图范围要大得多。总体而言，图边界的个体差异与元音基频处的可听度或频率选择性无关，音乐经验也没有明显影响。
总体而言，研究表明听力损失会基于FM速率和FM偏移线索影响对歌唱元音的感知，这可能是由于FM检测或辨别能力不足，或者是跟随频率变化速率的能力下降所致。
