Ralf Winkler

EGG open quotient in aging voices—changes with increasing chronological age and its perception

This paper presents the results of open quotient (OQ) measurements in electroglottographic (EGG) signals of young (18–30 years) and elderly (60–82 years) male and female speakers. The paper further presents quantitative results of the relation between the EGG OQ and the perception of a speakers age. Higgins and Saxman found a decreased EGG OQ with increased age for females, while the EGG OQ increased for males as the speakers age increased in sustained vowel material 1. Although laryngeal degeneration due to increased age seems to occur to a lesser extent in females, the significant decrease of the OQ in elderly female voices could not be explained in terms of age-related physiological changes. Linville found increased spectral amplitudes in the region of F0 for the elderly (obtained by long-term average spectra (LTAS) measurements of read speech material), independent of gender, which could be indirectly interpreted as an increasing OQ 3. We measured the EGG OQ, not only for sustained vowels but also in vowels taken from isolated words and read speech material. To analyse the relation between breathiness in terms of an increased EGG OQ and the mean perceived age per stimulus, a perception test was carried out, in which listeners were asked to estimate speakers age based on sustained /a/-vowels varying in vocal effort (soft–normal–loud) during production. 1) The decreased EGG OQ for elderly females originally found by Higgins and Saxman 1 is not apparent in our data for sustained /a/-vowels; for males, however, we also found an increased EGG OQ for the elderly speakers. 2) In addition, an increased EGG OQ for the group of elderly in comparison to the younger males occurs for the unstressed syllable of the word material. 3) Our results show a strong positive relation between perceived age and EGG OQ in male vowel stimuli. Regarding 2), depending on the speech task at least a male speakers voice gets more breathy as age increases. Considering 3), increased breathiness may contribute to the listeners perception of increased age.

Mumbling: Macho or Morphology?

Purpose Mumbling as opposed to clear speech is a typical male characteristic in speech and can be the consequence of a small jaw opening. Whereas behavioral reasons have often been offered to explain sex-specific differences with respect to clear speech, the purpose of this study is to investigate a potential anatomical reason for smaller jaw openings in male than in female speakers. Method Articulatory data from 2 data sets (American English and German) were analyzed with respect to jaw opening in low vowels during speech. Particular focus was placed on sex-specific differences, also incorporating potential interactions with different accent conditions in 1 of the data sets. In addition, a modeling study compared the articulatory consequences of similar jaw-opening settings in a typical male and a typical female articulatory model. Results Greater jaw openings were found for the female speakers, in particular in the accented condition, where jaw opening was found to be larger. In line with this finding, the modeling study showed that similar jaw-opening settings in male and female speakers led to differences in pharyngeal constriction, resulting in complete radico-pharyngeal closure in the male model. Conclusion The empirical and modeling findings suggest a possible physiological component in sex-specific differences in speech clarity for low vowels.