Impact of human vocal fold vibratory asymmetries on acoustic characteristics of sustained vowel phonation

[摘要] (cont.) Thus, since stroboscopic imaging is only able to capture vibratory asymmetry that occurs periodically, voice clinicians are not able to observe the time-varying nature of asymmetry that presumably affects acoustic perturbations to a higher degree. The impact of asymmetric vibration on spectral characteristics was explored in a computational voice production model and an expanded group of 47 human subjects. Surprisingly, in both model and subject data, measures of vocal fold vibratory asymmetry did not correlate with spectral tilt measures. In the subject data, left-right phase asymmetry and closing quotient exhibited a mild inverse correlation. This result conflicted with model simulations in which the glottal area waveform exhibited higher closing quotients (less abrupt glottal closure) with increasing levels of phase asymmetry. Results call for further studies into the applicability of traditional spectral tilt measures and the role of asymmetric vocal fold vibration in efficient voice production.

[发布机构] Massachusetts Institute of Technology