From: john schweinfurth
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: singer's formant (that pinging thing)
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Tue, 08 Feb 2000 17:50:04 -0700, VOCALIST wrote:

> Dear Jon Schweinfurth, MD and List:
> Your recent post regarding vowel formants and the singer's formant
> contains information that, in my opinion and study, is not in line
> with the source material from Dr. Titze and others.
> You also indicated that "the formant frequencies for the /i/ vowel
> was highest at every formant". Everything I have read and seen in
> spectrograph displays indicates that the /i/ vowel has a lower first
> formant and a higher second formant than other vowels. I have seen
> nothing that indicates that both its first and second formants are
> highest, as you have stated.
> Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA

Dr. Hanson,

I forgot everything that I posted but you're absolutely correct, the /i/
vowel IS in fact lower in the first formant than the /a/, /ae/, and /e/
vowel. I hope I have neither offended anyone or ruined singing careers by
the error. It is highest in the other 4 formants, although within test
retest variability. Otherwise, I agree with everything else that you've
said and I fail to see where we differ on the subject. I believe the
original question was how one could maintain resonance across pitch
modulation even though we know that the 'special resonator' falls between
2800-3200 Hz.

In general, I would not build your house on this research because there is
some variability between voices, range, anatomy, language, etc.


John M. Schweinfurth, MD
Laryngology and Professional Voice Care
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
(615) 322-6180





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