ASA 125th Meeting Ottawa 1993 May

3aSP9. A comparison of frequency spectra of normal and hoarse voices.

Amando Garcia

Jose Romero

Francisco Cervera

Dept. of Appl. Phys., Univ. of Valencia, Ave. Dr. Moliner, 46100, Burjassot, Spain

In the framework of source research for developing an auxiliary tool for voice rehabilitation, the differences between normal and hoarse voices have been analyzed. Five women with normal voices (control group) and five hoarse women (experimental group) have been selected as study subjects. Frequency spectra from laboratory voice recordings of the five Spanish vowels for all subjects have been obtained with a real time analyzer. The frequencies of fundamental pitch (F0) and the first four formants (F1, F2, F3, and F4) are similar for both groups of voices. However, this demonstrates that there is a loss of harmonics in people with hoarse voices. The main intensities (spectrum envelopes) for experimental group subjects are always lower than that for control group subjects. The differences between the two groups are specially located for the frequency range of 1000--3000 Hz (about 20 dB).