Comparison of Singerʹs Formant, Speakerʹs Ring, and LTA Spectrum Among Classical Singers and Untrained Normal Speakers

Many studies have described and analyzed the singerʹs formant. A similar phenomenon produced by trained speakers led some authors to examine the speakerʹs ring. If we consider these phenomena as resonance effects associated with vocal tract adjustments and training, can we hypothesize that trained singers can carry over their singing formant ability into speech, also obtaining a speakerʹs ring? Can we find similar differences for energy distribution in continuous speech? Forty classically trained singers and forty untrained normal speakers performed an all-voiced reading task and produced a sample of a sustained spoken vowel /a/. The singers were also requested to perform a sustained sung vowel /a/ at a comfortable pitch. The reading was analyzed by the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) method. The sustained vowels were analyzed through power spectrum analysis. The data suggest that singers show more energy concentration in the singerʹs formant/speakerʹs ring region in both sung and spoken vowels. The singersʹ spoken vowel energy in the speakerʹs ring area was found to be significantly larger than that of the untrained speakers. The LTAS showed similar findings suggesting that those differences also occur in continuous speech. This finding supports the value of further research on the effect of singing training on the resonance of the speaking voice.