• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.142-146
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• 1998

Background : It has been established that the fundamental frequency(Fo) of the vowels varies systemically as a function of vowel height. Specifically, high vowels have a higher Fo than low vowels. Two major explanations or hypotheses dominate contemporary accounts of fired to explain the mechanisms underlying intrinsic variation in vowel Fo, source-tract coupling hypothesis and tongue-pull hypothesis. Objectives : Total laryngectomy surgery necessiates removal of all structures between the hyoid bone and the tracheal rings. Therefore, the assumption that no direct interconnection exists between the tongue and pharyngoesophageal segment that would mediate systematic variation in vowel Fo appears quite reasonable. If tongue-pull hypothesis is correct, systemic differences in Fo between high versus low vowels produced by esophageal speakers would not Or expected. We analyzed the Fo in the vowels of esophageal voice. Materials and method : The subjects were 11 cases of laryngectomee patients with fluent esophageal voice. The five essential vowels were recorded and analyzed with computer speech analysis system(Computerized Speech Lab). The Fo was measured using acoustic waveform, automatically and manually, and narrow band spectral analysis. Results : The results of this study reveal that intrinsic variation in vowel Fo is clearly evident in esophageal speech. By analysis using acoustic waveform automatically, the signals were too irregular to measure the Fo precisely. So the data from automatic analysis of acoustic waveform is not logical. But the Fo by measuring with manually calculated acoustic waveform or narrowband spectral analysis resulted in acceptable results. These results were interpreted to support neither the source-tract coupling nor the tongue-pull hypotheses and led us to offer an alternative explanation to account for intrinsic variation of Fo.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 2008

Multiple physical changes of the larynx and its components occur with age. Vocal pitch, commonly expressed through measures of fundamental frequency (Fo) relate to physical conditions of the larynx. Available data is lacking for the senescent voice, and should be applied to the of changes of elderly speakers' Fo characteristics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the Fo of normal elderly speaker's voice. A total of 406 normal elderly speakers (207 males and 199 females) participated in this experiment. Age ranged from 60 years to 89 years. The subjects were asked to produce sustained corner vowels (/a/ /i/ /u/) three times each and the data were analyzed using the MDVP of CSL. According to the results of this study, the mean Fo from the ages of 60's to 80's shows 143.95Hz(SD 13.94) for men and 185.42Hz (SD 15.29) for women. For men, a significant change is found as a function of age in the Fo (F=16.181, p<.05). A post-hoc Scheffe test revealed significant differences between the Fo data of subjects aged 60's and 70's, 60's and 80's. For women, a significant change is found as a function of age in the Fo (F=49.013, p<.05). A post-hoc $Scheff'{e}$ test revealed significant differences between the Fo data of subjects in their 60's and 70's, 70's and 80's, 60's and 80's. The Fo of men goes up from their 60's to 80's gradually, whereas the Fo of women goes down gradually until their 70's, and after their 70's it again increases. It has been known that diminishing estrogen levels in women in old age may be a factor in lowering Fo, whereas diminishing testosterone levels in men may contribute to a rising Fo. This result may be used as some meaningful guideline and lead the basic data to differentiate between normal aged voice and aged voice disorders.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.129-143
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• 2003

Fundamental frequency (Fo), jitter, shimmer, and harmonics-to-noise ratio (NHR) have been measured to see their interactions between the parameters using Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP). 100 Korean normal adults (50 males and 50 females) ranging from their early 20's to their early 30's produced the eight sustained vowels including /a/, /i/, /u/, /c/, /e/,/$\varepsilon$/, /i/, and /e/. The subjects were asked to read the above vowels five times in isolation with the interval of five seconds, respectively. Male voices, on the average, showed 130.7 Hz in Fo, 0.6696% in jitter, 1.8151% in shimmer, and 0.12 in NHR, while female voices showed 232.8 Hz in Fo, 0.9222% in jitter, 1.9199% in shimmer, and 0.1098 in NHR. As to the correlation coefficient, it was found that for male speakers jitter vs. shimmer, shimmer vs. NHR, Fo vs. shimmer, and Fo vs. NHR are statistically significant. It was found that for female subjects jitter vs. shimmer and Fo vs. shimmer are statistically significant. However, it is concluded that the correlation coefficient in females are not meaningful in a practical way though they are all statistically significant.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2013

The aerodynamic characteristics (subglottal pressure (Ps) and mean airflow rate (MFR)), fundamental frequency (Fo), intensity (I), vocal efficiency (VE), and closed quotient (CQ) were compared during a sustained vowel /o/ sound under three conditions: in a comfortable loudness and pitch level (condition 1), in a maximum loudness level with a fixed pitch (condition 2), and in a maximum loudness level without a fixed pitch (condition 3). Also, multiple regression analyses were done to measure the aerodynamic characteristics affect on the VE and the CQ in each condition. The results showed the Fo, Ps, MFR, VE, and CQ increased as I increased with and without fixed pitch. Most notably, VE in condition 3 was the highest of all the conditions, but CQ was not very high. By the results of multiple regression analysis, VE was significantly affected by I and Ps in all conditions; Fo was the other main key for affecting VE in high pitch. However, none of the aerodynamic characteristics significantly affected CQ. As I increases, Fo should be increased by increasing Ps and VE. Therefore, researchers should consider and specify an a priori to Fo, Ps, and I when measuring VE to examine the complex and delicate vocal mechanism.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.44-48
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• 1997

Anatomic and physiological changes of the larynx with advancing age result in morphologic changes of the vocal fold and reduced control of the phonatory mechanism in elderly individuals and are reflected in increased unstability of fundamental frequency (Fo). The purpose of this study is to increase current understanding of acoustic and stroboscopic characteristics of normal elderly persons voices. First, phonated /a/ vowel productions by 40 normal adults (20 to 40 years, 20 men and 20 women) and 40 normal elderly persons (60 to 80 years,20 men and 20 women) were analyzed, using CSL (model 4300B) acoustic analysis software, to obtain acoustic measures related to fundamental frequency stability nd vocal resonance characteristics. Second, stroboscopic images of the vocal fold behavior in all subjects were analyzed by experienced specialists. In the men, fundamental frequency variation (vFe) (p＜0.01), jitter. (p＜0.05), and shimmer (p＜0.05) for the older group were significantly higher than the value for the adult group. In the stroboscopic findings, edema of vocal fold had a significant finding in aged men (15%). In the women, vFo (p＜0.05), jitter (p＜0.05), and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR) (p＜0.05) for the older group were significantly higher than the value for e adult group and first formant frequency (F1) (p＜0.01) and second formant frequency (F2) (p＜0.01) for. the older group were significantly lower than the value for the adult group. In the stroboscopic findings, vocal fold atrophy had a significant finding in aged women (25%). Frequency stability, as reflected by vFo, jitter, shimmer, and NHR, decreases with advancing age in men and women and spectral analysis of phonated /a/ vowel productions reveals the lowering of the frequency of F1 and second F2 with advancing age, especially in aged women. Change in the mass of vocal folds, due to atrophy or edema, is considered to be the greatest factor in these acoustic changes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 1994

The vocal pitch is controlled by the tension, mass, and length of the vocal fold. It is well known that cricothyroid approximation raises the vocal pitch by simulating the contraction of the cricothyroid muscle, and there were so many reports that have noted a relationship between cricothyroid distance and pitch control, but there does not seem to be any single generally accepted theory to account for this connection. It is generally known that the strap muscles are active during low and falling Fo, and the suprahyoid muscles are active during high and raising Fo. These findings can be related to a general picture of the motion of the larynx during changes in Fo, the cricothyroid joint would tend to lengthen the vocal folds, as the larynx moves up and forward, and relax them as it moves back and down. In this study, we suggest that the relationship between anterior cricothyroid distance and fundamental frequency of the larynx was so complex according to the level of larynx and vertebral curvature. The higher the level of larynx, the wider the cricothyoid distance, but there is more greater fundamental frequency even though more wide cricothyroid distance. This phono-menon seems to be due to the multifactors, especially the vertical tension of the conus elasticus or the change of cricothyroid articulation. It is generally known that the crocothyoid and vocal is muscles are very closely related to pitch elevation, but sternohyoid muscle seems to be more closely related to pitch lowering. By this electromyographic studies, the sternohyoid muscle have dual activity to pitch control, increased activity during the low fundamental frequency and falling pitch, but also increased activity during the higher fundamental frequency and raising pitch at least in this study.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.133-136
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between the Average Fundamental Frequency, Fo-Tremor Frequency, Jitter, Shimmer, Amplitude Tremor Intensity Index, and Noise to Harmonic Ratio of MDVP and Fo, Fo Tremor, Jitter, Shimmer, Amp Tremor, HNR, and NNE of Dr. Speech. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used for analysis. The results showed that there was a strong correlation between Fo and Shimmer of both instruments. However, the remaining parameters did not show a significant correlation.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.163-166
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• 2007

Our present study was performed to investigate acoustically the Chines normal adults' voices. 60 Chines normal adults (30 males and 30 females) of the age of 20 to 39 years oridyced systained vowel /a/ and, by analyzing them acoustically with Dr. Speech, we could get the fundamental frequency (Fo), jitter, shimmer, NNE. As results, on the average, male voices showed 1I8.1Hz in Fo, 0.186% in jitter, 1.12% in shimmer, and -13.7dB in NNE. And, female voices showed 252.4Hz in Fo, 0.186% in jitter, 0.81% in shimmer, and -1I.3dB in NNE. Every parameter except Fo showed no significant difference between male and female voices.

• Speech Sciences
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• v.1
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• pp.261-274
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• 1997

In spite of the presumed importance of the strap muscles on laryngeal valving and speech production, there is little research concerning the physiological role and the functional differences among the strap muscles. Generally, the strap muscles have been shown to cause a decrease in the fundamental frequency(Fo) of phonation during contraction. In this study, an in vivo canine laryngeal model was used to show the effects of strap muscles on the laryngeal function by measuring the Fo, subglottal pressure, vocal intensity, vocal fold length, cricothyroid distance, and vertical laryngeal movement. Results demonstrated that the contraction of sternohyoid and sternothyroid muscles corresponded to a rise in subglottal pressure, shortened cricothyroid distance, lengthened vocal fold, and raised Fo and vocal intensity. The thyrohyoid muscle corresponded to lowered subglottal pressure, widened cricothyroid distance, shortened vocal fold, and lowered Fo and vocal intensity. It was postulated that the mechanism of altering Fa and other variables after stimulation of the strap muscles is due to the effects of laryngotracheal pulling, upward or downward, and laryngotracheal forward bending, by the external forces during strap muscle contraction.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.12-18
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• 1991

Detecting the fundamental frequency(Fo) of the speech signal is a problem in many speech applications. A problem of the pitch detection method in the frequency domain is occurred by the first formant and the background noise. Thus, in this paper, we proposed a pitch detection algorithm in the frequency domain that reduces the effects of the first formant and the background noise by the spectral AMDF function. Several computer simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm was very effective for fundamental frequency detection.