Bier Stephen D, Watson Catherine I, McCann Clare M
a Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering , University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.
b School of Psychology (Speech Science) , University of Auckland , Auckland , New Zealand.
Logoped Phoniatr Vocol. 2017 Jul;42(2):51-61. doi: 10.3109/14015439.2016.1156155. Epub 2016 Mar 24.
This paper examines age-related differences in voice quality between 15 young and 15 old speakers, using electroglottographic (EGG) recordings of three elicitation types: sustained vowels, hVd word lists, and readings of the Rainbow Passage. For each elicitation type, fundamental frequency (F0), contact quotient (Qx), and their standard deviations are analysed. Results found, for all three elicitations, that Qx was significantly lower for older speakers. F0 was higher for the older speakers, but this was only significant for the hVd word lists. Sustained vowels were used to examine the effect of target pitch and loudness on F0 and Qx. Both Qx and F0 were raised with increased target loudness. The hVd word lists were used to examine the phonetic effects of different vowels. Lip rounded vowels had higher Qx than non-lip rounded vowels. Readings of the Rainbow Passage encompassed prosodic and phonetic variations in F0 and Qx, in addition to voice quality. F0 and Qx contours of the hVd word lists and the vowel/ei/taken from the Rainbow Passage were analysed using the discrete cosine transform. The hVd frame produced coarticulation effects on the Qx contour, but no such effects were evident for the vowel /ei/. The study concluded that using multiple elicitation types is beneficial in the study of the effect of age on the voice, and that analysing contour tracks for F0 and Qx will allow further examination of how prosodic and phonetic effects interact with age-related changes in voice quality.
本文使用三种诱发类型的电子声门图（EGG）记录，研究了15名年轻说话者和15名年长说话者之间与年龄相关的嗓音质量差异，这三种诱发类型分别为：持续元音、hVd单词列表以及彩虹段落朗读。对于每种诱发类型，分析了基频（F0）、接触商（Qx）及其标准差。结果发现，对于所有三种诱发类型，年长说话者的Qx显著更低。年长说话者的F0更高，但这仅在hVd单词列表中显著。持续元音用于研究目标音高和响度对F0和Qx的影响。Qx和F0均随目标响度增加而升高。hVd单词列表用于研究不同元音的语音效果。唇圆元音的Qx高于非唇圆元音。彩虹段落朗读除了包含嗓音质量外，还涵盖了F0和Qx的韵律和语音变化。使用离散余弦变换分析了hVd单词列表以及从彩虹段落中选取的元音/ei/的F0和Qx轮廓。hVd音框对Qx轮廓产生了协同发音效应，但对于元音/ei/没有明显的此类效应。该研究得出结论，使用多种诱发类型有助于研究年龄对嗓音的影响，并且分析F0和Qx的轮廓轨迹将有助于进一步研究韵律和语音效果如何与与年龄相关的嗓音质量变化相互作用。
