Hello Tako
The male head voice is that voice which occurs above the top notes of the male chest voice. There is a transition area between these two registers which is usually called the male passaggio. For the high tenor this passaggio occurs in the approximate range between D4 and G4. The head voice is characterized by a strong ring, a brilliant color and, if sung softly (mezzo voce) an very intimate quality. All of its colors display an overtone series that is absent in falsetto. The fact that some singers have more ring and brilliance in head voice than others is attributed more to innate vocal differences than to functional differences. In any case, if the voice is under pressure and the full length of the vocal folds is used it is head voice. It cannot be chest voice or any form of chest voice because that would require that the folds be shorter and thicker which is not possible in that range of the male voice.
The female equivalent to the tenor passaggio (which is usually about a fourth in range) is the female middle range which us often an octave or more in range. Below this is the female chest voice, above it the female head voice or, if you prefer, high voice. Above the female high voice is the flageolet and whistle voice. Even if females sing in their high range or in the upper part of their middle voice with a breathy tone which requires closure rates that are open more than closed, they are not singing in falsetto. They cannot because their vocal folds are too short to obtain the falsetto position of the male voice. The tone may imitate the male falsetto but it is not the same functionally.
Regards -- Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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