MUSIC 318 MINI-COURSE ON SPEECH AND SINGING

1. SPEECH
PRODUCTION

Science of Sound, Chapter 15

The Speech Chain, Chapter 4
The Science of the Singing Voice (Sundberg, NIU Press, 1987)
THE VOCAL ORGANS
 VOCAL TRACT
WITH SOFT PALATE
LOWERED FOR
BREATHING
 BREATHING AND AIR FLOW
LUNGS HAVE NO MUSCLES ;
BREATHING IS ACCOMPLISHED
BY CHANGING THE SIZE OF THE
CHEST CAVITY IN TWO WAYS:
1.DOWNWARD MOVEMENT OF
THE DIAPHRAGM TO
LENGTHEN THE CHEST CAVITY
2. ELEVATION OF THE RIBS TO
INCREASE THE FRONT-TO-BACK
THICKNESS

TWO MUSCLE GROUPS ARE

USED:
1.EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
INTERCOSTALS THAT EXPAND
AND CONTRACT THE RIB CAGE
2. ABDOMINAL WALL AND
DIAPHRAGM WHICH CHANGE
THE ABDOMINAL CAVITY
 BREATHING TECHNIQUES

SINCE BREATHING IS DONE WITH 4 MUSCLES, THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT

TECHNIQUES THAT CAN BE USED (SUNDBERG, 1987)

BELLY IN TECHNIQUE: THE EXPIRATORY INTERCOSTAL AS WELL AS THE DIAPHRAGM

MUSCLES ARE STRETCHED AND CAN THUS BE EFFICIENTLY RECRUITED IN ORDER TO
PROMPTLY INCREASE SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE.

BELLY OUT TECHNIQUE: IF COMBINED WITH ELAVATED AND OUTWARD POSITIONING

OF THE RIB CAGE WALL, THE INTERCOSTAL MUSCLES ARE STRETCHED, AS ARE THE
ABDOMINAL WALL MUSCLES, BUT INSPIRATORY EFFORTS ARE LIKELY TO BE NEEDED.
 SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE

SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE GENERALLY REFERS TO OVERPRESSURE, THE AMOUNT BY

WHICH THE PRESSURE BELOW THE GLOTTIS EXCEEDS ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE.

THE MOST ACCURATE WAY TO DETERMINE SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE IS TO INSERT A THIN

NEEDLE INTO THE TRACHEA, AND A FEW SPEAKERS AND SINGERS HAVE SUBMITTED TO
THIS METHOD.

AN INDIRECT METHOD IS TO CLOSE THE LIPS AND OPEN THE GLOTTIS, SO THAT MOUTH
PRESSURE IS ESSENTIALLY EQUAL TO SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE. THEN THE SUBGLOTTAL
PRESSURE CAN BE DETERMINED BY THE DROP IN ORAL PRESSURE DURING THE
PRODUCTION OF THE CONSONANT /p/.
 SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE DURING PHONATION

SUBJECT ASKED TO TAKE A DEEP

BREATH AND COUNT FROM 1 TO
32.
TO THE LEFT OF THE VERTICAL
LINE, THE NET MUSCULAR FORCE
IS INSPIRATORY; TO THE RIGHT IT
IS EXPIRATORY.

THE SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE Ps

REMAINS REASONABLY
CONSTANT THROUGHOUT THE
ENTIRE PROCESS. (SUNDBERG,
2007).
SUBGLOTTAL AND ORAL PRESSURE AND AIR FLOW

AIR FLOW, SUBGLOTTAL , and oral PRESSURE VARIATION WHILE SPEAKING THE
PHRASE phonetic aspects
 THE LARYNX

(a) BACK
VIEW

(b) SIDE
VIEW
 VOCAL FOLDS
CONTROL OF THE GLOTTAL OPENING BY THE ARYTENOIDS
VOCAL FOLD VIBRATIONS
 GLOTTOGRAMS (GLOTTAL FLOW WAVEFORMS)
SHOW HOW THE AIR FLOW THROUGH THE GLOTTIS VARIES WITH TIME
 GLOTTAL MASK WITH INVERSE FILTERING

SUBJECT PHONATES THROUGH AN

ACOUSTIC RESISTANCE, SO THAT
MICROPHONE MEASURES GLOTTAL
FLOW

INVERSE FILTER HAS A TRANSFER FUNCTION

THAT IS THE INVERSE OF THE VOCAL
TRACT TRANSFER FUNTION . THUS IT
MINIMIZES THE EFFECT OF THE VOCAL
TRACT AND DISPLAYS THE GLOTTAL
FLOW AS IF THERE WERE NO VOCAL
TRACT.
 GLOTTAL WAVE FORM SPECTRUM

THE FLOW OF AIR THROUGH THE GLOTTIS IS ROUGHLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE AREA OF
THE GLOTTAL OPENING. FOR NORMAL PHONATION, THE TRIANGULAR WAVEFORM OF
THE GLOTTAL FLOW IS COMPOSED OF HARMONICS THAT DECREASE AS 1/n2 (AT A RATE OF
-12dB/OCTAVE.
 FLOW GLOTTOGRAM AND ITS DERIVATIVE

DERIVATIVE SHOWS THE

RATE OF CLOSURE OR
OPENING OF THE GLOTTIS

(WIGGLES ARE AN
ARTIFACT DUE TO
IMPERFECT INVERSE
FILTERING)
 GLOTTOGRAMS FOR LOUD AND SOFT PHONATION

LOUD PHONATION REQUIRES A RAPID

CLOSURE OF THE GLOTTIS
GLOTTOGRAMS FOR DIFFERENT MODES OF PHONATION
GLOTTOGRAMS FOR MODAL AND FALSETTO SINGING
 SOURCE/FILTER MODEL OF SPEECH

THE SOURCE/FILTER MODEL DESCRIBES SOUNDS OF SPEECH

AND SINGING AS A PRODUCT OF SOURCE AND FILTER AND
RADIATION EFFICIENCY

SPEECH SOUND=SOURCE x FILTER x RADIATION EFFICIENCY

IF EACH OF THESE QUANTITIES IS EXPRESSED IN DECIBELS (dB),

THEN THE CONTRIUBTIONS ARE ADDED RATHER THAN
MULTIPLIED.

THE SOURCE FUNCTION DECREASES IN STRENGTH ABOUT

12 dB/OCTAVE. THE RADIATION EFFICIENCY OF THE MOUTH
RISES ABOUT 6 dB/OCTAVE, SO THE NET DECREASE DUE TO THE
1ST AND 3RD TERMS IN THE EQUATION IS ABOUT 6 dB/OCTAVE
 WAVEFORMS AND SPECTRA OF TWO VOWELS

/a/ (ah)

/u/ (uh)
VOWELS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH