Conference_programme: 18.3 - Voice accommodations in room acoustics and noise

Lecture: Voice Production Due to Extreme Reverberation Time

Author(s): Hunter Eric, Rollins Michael, Leishman Timothy , Berardi Mark

Summary:
Intro: Occupational voice users have a heightened risk of voice problems. There are many potential causes of this increased vocal risk, including poor room acoustics (e.g., excessively high or low reverberation times). Whether a school teacher working in a loud or poorly designed classroom or a singer working in both stage and studio conditions, with increased understanding, rooms could be better designed to maintain communication transfer (intelligibility), while mitigating unhealthy vocal effort and, by extension, voice problems. \nMethods: The present study quantified the influence of a wide range of reverberation times in a real room on vocal production parameters. Thirty-two participants were recorded completing a battery of speech tasks in eight widely ranging conditions within a reverberation chamber. \nResults: Changes in reverberation time had highly correlated effects on several vocal parameters, including smoothed cepstral peak prominence, acoustic vocal quality index (AVQI), and pitch strength. As reverberation increased, vocal parameters tended toward values commonly associated with dysphonic phonation. Additionally, results were gender dependent, with females tending to produce voice with higher vocal effort than males.\nConclusion: These findings begin to objectify the effects of extreme room reverberation on vocal accommodations and provide grounds for developing future talker-oriented room acoustical standards. Additionally, these findings add insight into a potential factor underlying the gender disparity in voice disorders.\n

Corresponding author

Name: Prof Eric Hunter

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Country: United States