Study on control of vocal-tract shape and vocal-fold vibration during soprano singing

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24500233
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Perception information processing/Intelligent robotics
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
• Principal Investigator: TAKEMOTO Hironori 独立行政法人情報通信研究機構, 多感覚・評価研究室, 研究員 (40374102)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ソプラノ / 声道形状 / 声道共鳴 / 声帯振動 / 相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Changes of the vocal tract of sopranos during singing were measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging to examine so-called formant tuning, in which the first and second resonances (R1 and R2) of the vocal tract are tuned to the first and second harmonics of vocal fold vibration. Results revealed that the sopranos changed the angle between the larynx and pharynx for R1 tuning, while they changed the frontal size of the oral cavity and the degree of lip constriction for R2 tuning. Furthermore, at high pitches, the changes of the vocal tract to increase R1 implied that the sopranos could not generate the singing formant, because those changes tended to reduce the acoustic independence of the larynx from other parts of the vocal tract, which is indispensable for generating the formant.

Free Research Field

音声生成