Normophonic Breathiness in Czech and Danish: Are Females Breathier Than Males?

Abstract

The present study compares the voice quality of female and male speech in two languages: Czech, a Slavic language, and Danish, a Germanic language. For both languages, the results based on a total of 120 vocally healthy speakers are in line with the claim that females are universally breathier than males. This was supported by the Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) and H1*-H2* measures, which are generally known as the most robust correlates of breathiness, and also by the H1*-A3* measure. However, the sex distinction was unsupported or even contradictory when using some other measures suggested to reflect breathiness, which provides an incentive to insist on employing a number of acoustic measures in future voice research. The perceptual component of the study nevertheless suggests that these contradictory findings are due to differences in perceived roughness rather than breathiness, and that CPP and H1*-H2* do reflect breathiness differences, and CPP in particular. We therefore conclude that it is indeed the case that female speakers are breathier than male speakers. Finally, in terms of the two robust measures (CPP and H1*-H2*), no language-specific differences in the magnitude of the effect of sex on breathiness were found.

Acoustic markers impacting discrimination accuracy of emotions in voice

“…Hillenbrand et al's works describe the strong correlation between perceptual measures of breathiness and CPP magnitude [16]. In non-pathological voices, breathy phonation can be related to various socio-pragmatic functions, such as interpersonal relationships and emotions [17]. According to Murray and Arnott [18], a breathy voice can be associated with anger and happiness.…”

Voice Quality in Telephone Interviews: A preliminary Acoustic Investigation

“…This is surprising in light of both the acoustic measures in our study − the ABI and HNR measures being significantly higher in women − as well as previous knowledge of gender differences in perceived breathiness. 91,92 This may be due to our expert panel, which was exclusively composed of women. Indeed, as explained in the theoretical framework proposed in, 87 perceptual ratings are influenced among others by listenerrelated factors, which shape their individual internal standards and affect interrater reliability more than intrarater reliability.…”

Medidas espectrais e cepstrais em mulheres com disfonia comportamental

“…No campo das medidas espectrais, as medidas relacionadas ao declínio espectral, que incluem parâmetros que refletem o espectro da energia harmônica, comparando as diferenças em decibel (dB) entre as amplitudes relativas de dois harmônicos, estão entre os principais preditores do hiperfuncionamento vocal ou do componente de soprosidade relacionados à produção vocal (7,8) . A diferença de amplitude entre o primeiro e o segundo harmônicos (H1-H2) e a caracterização do declínio espectral expresso em decibel (dB) estão entre as principais medidas recomendadas para utilização em contexto clínico (7) . Em uma revisão sistemática com metanálise, o H1-H2 esteve entre as principais medidas para predizer a presença e a intensidade da soprosidade na emissão vocal (4) .…”