Gender Differences in Long-Term Average Spectra of Children's Singing Voices

Sergeant, Desmond; Welch, Graham

doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2007.10.010

Cited by 28 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 120 publications

(114 reference statements)

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“…A research group in London found a success rate of 71.4% in a listening experiment with untrained boys and girls aged 4-11 years singing a simple tune. [12][13][14][15] The identification rates are lower in the case of trained children singers [16][17][18][19][20] as can be seen in Table I. Most studies corroborate the assumption that listeners are able to identify above chance level the gender of children from their singing voices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Gender differences in children’s singing voices: Acoustic analyses and results of a listening test

Mecke

Sundberg

2010

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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This study tested the hypothesis that acoustic parameters exist which are specific to gender in children's singing voices, and that these parameters are relevant to listeners' identification of gender of children's singing voices. A listening test was run with examples of singing produced by children belonging to different singing cultures, six boys and six girls from a Swedish music school and six boys from an elite German boys' choir. Sustained vowels were analyzed with regard to formants and voice source properties (jitter, shimmer and glottal-to-noise-excitation rate, closed quotient, and normalized amplitude quotient). Most of the measured parameters differed significantly between the boys belonging to the two different singing cultures. Regarding boys and girls from the same choir, only the closed quotient and the fourth formant frequency differed significantly. The listening test was carried out by an expert panel. The listeners correctly identified the gender of the singer in 66.0% of the cases, i.e., far better than chance. A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the listener's answers correlated well with the formant frequencies, with the fourth formant showing the highest correlation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Gender differences in children’s singing voices: Acoustic analyses and results of a listening test

Mecke

Sundberg

2010

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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“…Appropriately pitched literature has been linked to increased pitch accuracy (Welch, 1979). Although there has tended to be no statistical differences in range between prepubescent boys and girls (Sergeant & Welch, 2009;Wassum, 1979), statistical differences have been found by grade level suggesting that a child's range progressively widens as they age (Sergeant & Welch, 2009;Wassum, 1979). …”

Section: History Of Singing Ability In Americamentioning

confidence: 98%

“…This was a change from The School Music Program (Lehman et al, 1974) Outcome 1: "Is able to make music alone and with others," and the second edition of The School Music Program (Hoffer et al, 1986) (Doscher, 1994). Aural characteristics have included formant frequencies (Doscher, 1994), timbre (Howard, Williams, & Herbst, 2014;Sergeant & Welch 2009), voice source production (Barlow & Howard, 2005), and singing range (Barlow & Howard, 2005;Cooksey, 1993;Doscher, 1994;Moore, Fyk, Frega & Brotons, 1995Pedersen, 1997;Sergeant & Welch, 2009;Wassum, 1979;Welch, 1979).…”

Section: History Of Singing Ability In Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cooksey (1993) Physiological and aural similarities between genders may have important implications for singing instruction. Several studies have found that few vocal developmental differences exist between genders before puberty, specifically regarding pitch range and intensity (Barlow & Howard, 2005;Doscher, 1994;Sergeant & Welch, 2009;Wassum, 1979). Regardless of physiological similarities, Sergeant and Welch (2009) found timbre differences to be audible enough for musicians to predict gender in song recordings.…”

Section: History Of Singing Ability In Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What additional characteristics of singing ability should be described in the Geringer (1983) Kreutzer (2001) Moog (1976) Ramsey ( Barlow & Howard (2005) Bennett (1991) Brand (2000) Cooper (1992) Cooper (1995) Elmer (2000) Froehlich (1977) Froehlich (1979) Fyk (1985) Goetze (1985) Goetze & Horii (1989) Green (1990) Green (1994) Guerrini (2002) Guerrini (2006) Hedden (1982) Hermanson (1971) Hickey ( Levinowitz et al (1998) Mizener (1993) Moore (1994) Moore, Brotons, Fyk, & Castillo (1997) Moore, Fyk, Frega, & Brotons, (1995 Nichols (2013) Patrick (1978) Seltzer (1983) Sergeant & Welch (2009) Smith (1973) Sterling (1984) Steenwyk (2004) Tatem ( Pilot study data were extracted from the pool of unused/excluded articles (see Tables C.1 for exclusion rationale) from the full study in order to maintain consistency of topic and moderator variables. Of the 130 unused and excluded articles, 10 articles investigated singing instruction with children under five years old.…”

Section: Exclusion Criteria Statementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of instruction on the singing ability of children ages 5 to 11: A meta-analysis

Svec

2017

Psychology of Music

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reference list, 280 titles.The purpose of the meta-analysis was to address the varied and somewhat stratified study results within the area of singing ability and instruction by statistically summarizing the data of related studies. An analysis yielded a small overall mean effect size for instruction across 34 studies, 433 unique effects, and 5,497 participants ranging in age from 5-to 11-years old (g = 0.43). The largest overall study effect size across categorical variables included the effects of same and different discrimination techniques on mean score gains. The largest overall effect size across categorical moderator variables included research design: Pretest-posttest 1 group design.Overall mean effects by primary moderator variable ranged from trivial to moderate. Feedback yielded the largest effect regarding teaching condition, 8-year-old children yielded the largest effect regarding age, girls yielded the largest effect regarding gender, the Boardman assessment measure yielded the largest effect regarding measurement instrument, and song accuracy yielded the largest effect regarding measured task. Conclusions address implications for teaching, research pedagogy, and research practice within the field of music education.

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Perspectives on Males and Singing

Harrison¹,

Welch²,

Adler³

2012

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Gender Differences in Long-Term Average Spectra of Children's Singing Voices

Cited by 28 publications

References 120 publications

Gender differences in children’s singing voices: Acoustic analyses and results of a listening test

Gender differences in children’s singing voices: Acoustic analyses and results of a listening test

The effects of instruction on the singing ability of children ages 5 to 11: A meta-analysis

Perspectives on Males and Singing

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